


Adomania

by dame_de_la_chance



Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: Garage Kids AU, Gen, Tags May Change, also everyone ships ulumi btw odd and Jeremie are willing to go down with that ship, anyway its basically my fixation of future flash and garage kids rolled into one story, it's gonna get messy pretty quickly, its not a code lyoko story without aelita.........
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-07-11 08:12:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 63,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15968294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dame_de_la_chance/pseuds/dame_de_la_chance
Summary: Odd Della Robbia transfers to Kadic and meets Yumi, Ulrich, and Jeremie, three kids with a strange connection to the super virus Xanadu.In an attempt to unravel the secrets behind Xanadu, the mysterious "Professor", and keep his newfound powers under wrap, Odd and his friends spiral down into a path full of conspiracies and eventually uncover Xanadu's massive plot in achieving world domination. What cost are they willing to pay to save the world?





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odd transfers to Kadic Academy, and meets three quirky teens.

_He knew that it was coming before he even saw it._

_The room was dark, save for the eerie flickering light emanating from a computer screen. The soft light illuminated the floor for him to run on, able to see his feet as he padded down the hall away from the dorm room of his friend, running full speed, his hands clutching the most important item in the world at the moment, his knuckles turning white from the tight grip he held on the disk he'd been instructed to use._

_He had a job to fulfill, and he didn’t have much time._

_Darkness seeped from the computer screen, the familiar symbol he associated with the feeling of dread flashing brightly, and he pumped his legs even harder. His muscles ached and his head throbbed from the last blow the monster had felt him. He shuddered at the thought of their last encounter, visions of other people’s blood splattering on his clothing flickering through his head._

_His feet struck the ground with a wet splash as he raced as fast as he could through the system of underground tunnels. He had to hurry; he only had so much time before he would catch up, now that he’s free. He had to hurry._

_His feet led the way, his body had memorized the way long ago through the constant trips he had to take throughout the year. He moved on autopilot, his mind a hazy mess as he absently listened to his heavy breathing, adrenaline being the only thing keeping him moving as the beast chased after him._

_It was near pitch black as he felt his way around the sewer system. His skateboard had been abandoned, having been broken in the last attack, so his usual mode of transportation was out of the question. His lungs burned and exhaustion was creeping into his he sprinted. He had to hurry._

_Thunder boomed and he could hear the pattering of rain from above. He jumped from fright as he continued without pause, his nerves shot. The bleak weather above had never felt so accurate in foretelling his predicament._

_He turned down the hall and entered a tunnel connected to the school, pulling at the boards. He only had one chance, and it was imperative that he made it count._

_Thunder wailed in the distance once again, and from the cracks of the sewer system, he could see lightning dart across the sky. Rain flooded the drainage system he was in, the musty smell filling his senses and an aching in his joints forming._

_Water splashed under his sneakers as he turned again, the normal puddles flooding more than usual from the thunderstorm, and he rammed straight into a rusty ladder. Climbing it up in record speed, he shoved the manhole to the side and continued to sprint. Rain seeped into his clothes, chilling him to the bone, and he could see a trail of red follow him as he went, blood from himself flowing from his angry slashes in his arm, becoming swirling firework patterns into the steady stream of water and staining the concrete a bright red._

_He jumped from the top level of the abandoned factory he just entered, sliding down a rope. His hands shook and new blisters bubbled under his skin as his nerves tingled from rope burn. He landed with a thud, lacking his usual grace from a likely concussion, his knee sending a fresh wave of scolding pain up his leg. He winced but continued his pace, refusing to waste any more time than necessary, before promptly slamming into the elevator._

_He moved down a few levels before coming to a jerky stop, bouncing his good leg in anticipation and anxiety as he waited. He jumped out, darting toward the large mess of electronics in front of him. Tangled masses of cords and a broken keyboard were shapes he could vaguely make out in the dark as he checked over the large supercomputer. He glanced around, feeling watched as he sat in the chair and turned on the monitor._

_Light flooded the room and gave notice to one, unmoving body lying on the floor, pools of red surrounding their splayed mass that jutted out in unnatural angles. His stomach rolled as he turned back to the computer, a sickening feeling settling on his bones as nausea rushed over him. He fiddled with the computer, trying to remember all the times he had watched his friend do the same thing, and pushed a CD into a small opening. He paused._

_He suddenly began to speak, but it was too quiet and garbled to understand. He waved his arms as he spoke, his voice sounding frantic and hoarse. He was relaying an important message, pained and agitated expressions crossing his face as he jabbered._

_A sudden chill rolled down his spine. He spun on his chair and stood up just in time to see a black mass hiding in the shadows._

_He angrily began to yell at it, a strange, sick smile crossing his face as he did so, obscenities filling the air as he taunted whatever was in the shadows._

_The black blur suddenly lunged at him, and red filled his vision._

 

Odd’s head slammed against the window of the school bus, jerking him awake. He floundered for a moment as he regained his sense of surroundings, the haziness of his dream clouding his mind. The bus driver was staring at him expectantly, and he realized he may have overstayed his turn. He reached for his pet carrier, thankful he had his luggage pre-sent before his trip and listened to the soft murmurings of Kiwi. 

“Hush now,” he muttered to his dog, before giving the bus driver a bright smile and a word of gratitude. He jumped off the stairs and stared at the school in front of him, his new home for the next few months. 

Kiwi continued to whine, and Odd frowned at him. This dog had been with him through thick and thin and had never gotten scared before. He wondered what he sensed that Odd couldn't see, or was he simply rattled from such a long drive?

The bus pulled away with a coughing wheeze of the engine and he realized that he was truly alone. He hesitated before beginning his walk toward the front doors, unease building in his stomach. No point in dawdling, he supposed.

The school was large, much larger than the last one he went to. It felt as if he had just been swallowed whole as he walked through the main hallway, searching for the office. Maybe he should have looked at the map in the brochure after all. 

“Della Robbia?” a voice called, and he swiveled his head to a wall of glass. A polite looking woman stood at the door, her head tilted slightly. “My, you came much earlier than expected.”

“Really? The trip felt like it took half of my life to complete.” He smiled good-naturedly and began walking toward her. She ushered him in and gave him a small nod.

“I suppose it was a rather long trip, from Italy.” She leaned over toward her desk. “I’ll let Principal Delmas know of your arrival before I send you in.”

He nodded and glanced at Kiwi. He gently set down the crate near the woman’s desk, slightly hesitant to leave him alone so soon. The secretary glanced at the dog before looking back at him.

“You may enter now. He’s waiting.”

He waltzed past her and pushed open the principal's door, quietly shutting it behind him. The principal glanced up from the desk and gave him a polite smile as he began to straighten the papers that laid on every available surface of his desk. 

“Good morning, Della Robbia. Did you have a good trip?” He motioned to the chair in front of him, and Odd sat down as prompted.

“I suppose. I slept through most of it,” he answered honestly, his dream edging back into his thoughts.

“Ah. Well, in any case, I’m glad you have transferred to Kadic. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time here.” He glanced at the clock. “Hm. Mr. Belpois is late yet again…”

Odd quirked an eyebrow, but it went unnoticed. Who was ‘Mr. Belpois’?

The door suddenly opened, and a blond boy with round glasses that gave him an owlish look suddenly appeared. He gave the principal a shy smile as he slunk inside, his posture rather deplorable.

“Speak of the devil,” Mr. Delmas muttered good-naturedly. “Odd Della Robbia, this is Jeremie Belpois. He’ll be serving as your guide. If you have any questions about anything, please ask him. As our leading top student in academics excellent behavior, he’ll certainly have the answers. Hopefully, he won’t be too late to be of help.”

Jeremie blushed at the compliment and the slight jab at his tardiness before glancing at Odd. “It’s no problem.”

Odd gave him a quick once over, and decided that he liked the goody-two-shoes. “Cool.”

“Well, unfortunately, I do have things to be doing. Belpois has the keys to your dorm, and I recommend that he shows you to the area where you’ll be calling home for the next few months. I wish you luck, Della Robbia.”

Odd shot him a bright grin. “Thanks, sir. I’m sure it’ll be great.”

He left his seat and Jeremie opened the door for him before following him out. He waved at the secretary as he picked up Kiwi’s carrier. The dog had stopped whining and was now watching the two blonds with mock curiosity.

“Jeremie Belpois, huh?” Odd finally asked. The blond nodded.

“Nice to meet you, Della Robbia. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other, I’m sure.”

Odd was not sure how to interpret that, as it vaguely sounded like a threat. “Oh?”

Jeremie suddenly frowned. “That sounded weird. Sorry. What I mean is that you’re forming with Ulrich Stern, you know that?”

Odd nodded. He’d been informed that he’d have to share his dorm room since he was transferring so late. All other available rooms were occupied, and he didn’t really care.

“Well, Ulrich is a good friend of mine, and we hang out a lot. So, hopefully, we’ll also become good friends.”

Odd grinned. “You know Belpois? That sounds great.”

Suddenly, Jeremie stopped walking, nearly causing Odd to slam right into him. The blond pulled out a set of keys and began to unlock the door, before handing the keys to Odd. 

“You might need these,” He said, a slight tease in the small smile he offered, before pushing the door open.

Odd walked inside and was instantly greeted by another student. A taller, brunet boy stood at the opposite end of the room, leaning against the wall to look out the window. He glanced up at the sound of the door opening, and glanced at Jeremie before moving his eyes over to Odd, seemingly examining his new visitor.

Jeremie plopped down on one of the beds, and Odd released Kiwi from his carrier. Kiwi immediately began roaming around the room, sniffing all of the furniture, and Odd sat down on the other bed, unsure of what to do.

“Ulrich, this is Odd,” Jeremie introduced. “Odd, this is Ulrich, the guy I was talking about earlier.”

Ulrich gave Odd a once over before nodding and giving a gruff, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Odd greeted. “Glad to meet ya. Guess we’ll become good friends, hm?”

Ulrich rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “Sure.”

“He’s not exactly the talkative type,” Jeremie stated, earning a soft glare from Ulrich. “But don’t worry, he’ll warm up to you.”

Kiwi jumped on the bed next to Odd and panted happily as Odd gave the two boys a big grin. “Well, I’m glad to meet you all. I bet we’ll all make great friends.”

Jeremie smiled before glancing at Kiwi. There was a small pause before he said, “You know what Odd? Your dog looks pretty dumb.”

It was Jeremie’s attempt at humor, Odd supposed, to break the ice. And he took it. Grinning, Odd grabbed Kiwi and swung him gently toward Jeremie. “Better be careful Jeremie. Kiwi is very sensitive and can get very mean!”

Jeremie hesitantly leaned away from Kiwi, weary of the dog as Kiwi yipped happily at the boy and Odd laughed. The bespectacled boy grinned softly, realizing it was a joke, while Ulrich rolled his eyes and put his hand in his face, not impressed with the two’s attempt at banter.

Ulrich then glanced at the clock on the wall, before giving Jeremie and almost apologetic look. “It’s time for my Pencak Silat practice. Later.”

Jeremie glanced at Odd before saying, “Why don’t we join you? It’s always fun to watch you spar.”

Ulrich hummed before nodding and began to walk away. Jeremie followed, and Odd scrambled to catch up. What a strange duo.

He followed them out to the courtyard, where various other students were dawdling around. It seems that he had arrived just in time for their small break between classes. 

Ulrich walked away while Jeremie seated himself on a nearby bench, pulling a laptop out of his bag. Odd sat next to him, watching all of the students loitered around or played various games that he recognized, and checking out the girls.

“Oh,” he said, his eyes trained on a girl with long black hair and wearing a pink crop top. “Who’s that hottie?”

Jeremie glanced up and puckered his lips. “That’s Sissi Delmas, the principal's daughter, but trust me, you don’t want to have anything to do with her.”

“Huh? Why?”

“She’s as brainless as she is pretty,” Jeremie muttered. “And she’s known for being the school bully. Besides, she’s completely enamored with Ulrich.”

Odd glanced over at Ulrich, who was bowing to a girl dressed entirely in black. He watched as they began to get into a defensive position, and eyed the taller girl.

“Who’s the girl Ulrich’s fighting?”

“That’s Yumi Ishiyama,” Jeremie answered. He looked slightly amused as he watched the two begin to fight. “She’s a friend of mine as well, and she’s definitely not someone you’d want to be on their bad side with. And I think she might be spoken for.”

At that moment, Yumi swept Ulrich off his feet, knocking him to the ground. She pinned him down, and the two stared at each other for a long moment, blushed slowly creeping onto their faces.

Odd grinned. “I see.” 

Jeremie shrugged. “They’re still not together, even though they’ve known each other for months. They refuse to admit they have feelings for each other.”

Odd sighed. “What a shame. They’d be a cute couple.”

Odd watched as the two began to spar again, idly checking out their moves while Jeremie worked on whatever was on his laptop. They moved like clockwork, expertly executing moves that proved they’ve been training for a while. Yumi seemed to have incredible balance and flexibility while Ulrich had high speed. It was an interesting match for sure.

The bell suddenly rung, and signaled that they needed to head to class. They regrouped, and Jeremie slid his backpack into his bag again. They began to walk together, and Odd pulled out a piece of paper, checking over his schedule. He’d already missed his first few classes due to his long trip, but it wouldn’t hurt checking out the others.

Jeremie glanced over at Yumi and Ulrich. “After tomorrow’s first class, we’re going to need to head to the roof. I have some diagnostics I need to run and I need a good signal to do so, and in case anything happens I'd really like some backup.”

Yumi pursed her lips. “As long as it’s quick. My Italian teacher won’t like me missing another lesson again.”

Odd grinned, not quite understanding what he'd need the back-up for, but decided it wasn't his concern. “Don’t worry about it! I can teach you all the Italian you’d like.”

She gave him a small smile. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Yumi Ishiyama.”

“And I’m Odd Della Robbia. I’m Ulrich’s-”

“Roommate?” she finished. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be here yet.”

“The trip wasn’t nearly as long as it looked,” he answered, grinning. “Italy isn’t that far away.”

Jeremie suddenly grabbed the paper in Odd’s hands while he spoke, smoothing out the wrinkles it had developed from being shoved in his pockets. “Looks like you’ll be having almost all of your classes with Ulrich and I. In fact, we’re all in geometry right now.”

“Sweet!” Odd cheered. “Familiar faces in any class are always a plus!”

They smiled and walked together. Odd was beginning to think that this was going to be a great year if he was making friends this easily.

 

It was after class, and Odd was extremely thankful he had arrived so late in the afternoon to only have to attend the last class of the day. He began to wander the halls, declining Jeremie’s offer to give him a tour and decided to go it alone. He needed some time to think.

He meandered around for a long while, exploring every inch of new space he could find. It was a basic set up for a school, yet looked rather Japanese inspired, a stark contrast to the Italian schools he had gone through. Still, after an hour of walking around alone, he decided to head back to his dorm. There was only so much to look at, despite its large size, and he never was good at keeping his attention focused on something for a long period of time.

There was a lot to think about, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of his new friends. They seemed really nice and had openly invited him into their group, but Odd couldn’t help but feel weary. He’d been sent to plenty of different schools due to his parents’ frequent moving for their jobs, and it always started with kids seeming nice, becoming your friends, and then leaving you in the dust.

It happened, and it was disappointing, and he was tired of the frequency of it. Eventually, being the new kid lost its intrigue, he supposed.

He traced his steps back to what he was almost certain was his dorm. He fished the keys out of his pocket before a voice startled him.

“Della Robbia?”

He glanced behind him to find a girl with raven hair and a pink crop top leaning against the wall. The girl watched him as she crossed her arms expectantly, and Odd squinted at her. What was her name again? Susie? Sally?

"I see that you've been hanging around Ulrich Stern and his band of weirdos," she began, and Odd wasn't that surprised to see she decided that that was a great way to open a conversation.

"So?" he answered back. "I am."

"Don't be hostile. I'm doing you a favor."

“Oh really? Creeping around my dorm room to judge me for hanging out with my new friends don't sound like a favor to me."

She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair. "Just listen okay? You're new around here, so clearly you don't know anything about them..."

He frowned. He didn't particularly care for her attitude and didn't really want to hear her badmouth his new friends. However, he was curious as to what she had to say; after all, he really didn't know them that well. Jeremie had told him she was the school bully, and while that made her rather untrustworthy, it couldn't hurt to hear her out.

"They're..." She paused, clearly uncertain about her wording. "Spooky. They're always mixed up in the strange events that go on in this school. They're just... the weird kids you'd want to stay away from, because who knows where they go or what they do or why they always seem to go missing and skip class at the strangest times only to return with lamely excused injuries."

"Strange events?" he repeated. The hell was she talking about?

"You'll see soon enough. People who go missing and return without any memories of where they went or why. Strange damages to the school that couldn't possibly be caused by human force..." She glanced him over, her eyes roaming his clothes before settling on his hair, and he didn't even bother repressing an eye roll. "Although maybe you'd fit right in with the weirdos."

"Charming as this was," Odd stated, "I don't believe a word you say. Are we even talking about the same people?"

"The mad scientist Jeremie Belpois? The chronically late Yumi Ishiyama? The handsome and mysterious Ulrich Stern? As much as I love Ulrich, you have to recognize that they're mixed up in some serious things that I don't recommend getting involved with. Turn away while you still can." She tossed her hair dramatically and pushed herself off the wall. Odd watched as she frowned at him before shrugging. "Really, it's your choice, as it always is. But since you’re new in town, I figured you were owed the courtesy of at least a warning."

She walked away with an air of confidence Odd identified as egotistical. He leaned against the dorm room door for a moment, watching her as she retreated down the hallway. He considered her words very carefully, thinking about the strange dream he’d been plagued with ever since he had been enrolled in Kadic, and the strange reaction Kiwi had in coming here, like he was fearful of something unseen.

Maybe there was more than meets the eye about the Belpois gang...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl, did not mean for this to get as long as it did. I'm not entirely sure how long each of these chapters will be, but expect them to be at least 2,000 words.
> 
> Anyway, I tried to follow the pilot as best as I could without just summarizing all that happened. I didn't copy the dialogue exactly because at that point I might as well just link the pilot as the chapter. 
> 
> Think of this chapter as Xana Awakens Part 1.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odd learns about the strange hobbies of his new friends.

The next morning, Odd was awoken by the sound of his alarm clock. The rest of last night had been spent with him attempting to sort out his luggage and put away his clothes while striking a conversation with his new roommate. Neither of those things went according to plan, due to his poor organization skills and Ulrich’s equally poor ability to socialize. In any case, jet lag eventually caught up to him, and he passed out on his bed a few hours after his conversation with Sissi.

Ulrich was already awake and ready to go, and was just about to open the door to leave, so it seemed. Odd straggled out of bed, glanced at the clock, and looked back at Ulrich. Ulrich stared back. 

“Uh. Good morning,” Odd tried. Ulrich let out a grunt Odd assumed meant that he was giving a greeting. “What are you up to? Classes don’t start this early, do they?”

Ulrich stuffed his hands in his pocket, and his face remained expressionless. Ulrich had an extremely well-developed poker face, and it was impossible to say what was going on in his mind, but if Odd had to guess, he was probably irritated. “No.”

“Cool.” Odd picked up a shirt he had forgotten to put away and shrugged it on. He pulled on a pair of pants and as he was bucking his belt, Ulrich gave a small sigh before leaning against the door.

“I’m going to Jeremie’s room,” he finally answered.

“Mind if I tag along? I don’t have much to really… do.” Odd was going to come along regardless of what Ulrich said, because he was already bored of this conversation, but felt it was probably polite to ask before. Ulrich gave him a long look, glanced at the clock, then gave a bleary look back at him.

“Fine,” he simply stated, then opened the door and left. Odd blinked before scrambling after him, not wanting to get lost on his technical first real day of school.

The journey wasn’t far. As it turned out, Jeremie only dormed about three rooms away. How convenient.

Ulrich didn’t even knock and pushed his way inside the room. Odd stayed near the doorway for a moment, lingering behind as he glanced around the room. It was dimly lit, and a computer screen blinked almost ominously as lines of code ran across it in rapid succession. A sense of deja vu swept over him, and he wasn’t entirely sure why.

Jeremie didn’t even look up from his seat at his desk, his head leaning almost too close to the monitor of the computer. “Ulrich, it’s about time. I was wondering where you were. I already told Yumi about our predicament.”

Yumi was sitting on Jeremie’s bed, sitting on the only area where blankets weren’t tossed in a muddled mess and strange pieces of metal and wires weren’t strewn haphazardly on the surface. She was leaning over Jeremie’s shoulder to see the computer screen.

“But I’ll just recap. You-know-who has been acting strangely quiet, and I think he’s planning something big. In all of our time of doing this, he’s never gone five whole days without a peep, and frankly, I’m worried.” 

Odd wondered if he was supposed to be hearing this. Ulrich gave a small side-eyed look toward him as Jeremie spoke, and frowned. “Who are you talking about?”

Jeremie swung around in his seat, nearly falling right off from surprise. He stared at Odd for a moment, before glancing back at his screen, then back to him. “Oh, hey Odd. I didn’t know you were here.”

Odd grinned. “I can tell. But what are you talking about?”

Jeremie faltered and Yumi answered for him. “Nickolas, one of the students here, is a big fan of pranks, and he hasn’t done one since before you arrived. We were wondering what his next plans might be.”

“You woke up early in the morning to discuss that?” Odd answered, plopping down on Jeremie’s bed. He was pretty sure he was sitting on a metal plate, but he didn’t feel like moving.

“He’s uh. He’s really clever and we’re just uh, worried about his next attack.” Jeremie folded his arms across his chest as he spoke, and it was very easy to tell that he was lying. Thankfully for them, Odd really did not care, because he was too tired and hungry to really do so.

“Hm. Sounds like my kind of guy.” Before anyone could say something, he immediately asked, “Hey? When’s breakfast? I’m starved.”

Jeremie checked his watch. “It’s on right now. Yumi can show you the way there, but Ulrich and I need to talk about something real quick, do you mind?”

Food had been promised, and Odd was content enough as it was. “No problem.”

 

Breakfast and his morning class had gone by easily enough. The food wasn’t terrible, and the cook seemed to enjoy his flattery, so maybe extra portions were going to be something in the future. He really hoped so.

The computer science class wasn’t bad either. The teacher, Miss Schaeffer, didn’t really seem to know how to teach or handle a bunch of fourteen-year-olds, so he was certain that that was going to be an… interesting class. She was a pleasant but clearly inexperienced new teacher.

There was a small break in between classes, and Odd followed his new friends to the roof of the school building. Jeremie had expressed a desire to use the stronger signal to his advantage for whatever coding project he was working on, and clearly didn’t want to go alone for whatever reason.

So, Odd stood next to Ulrich and Yumi while Jeremie propped himself on the railing of the roof, his fingers flying over the keys. Yumi looked vaguely agitated as she glanced down at the ground, watching students move to and from classes.

“You better hurry,” Yumi stated after a moment. “I can’t be late for another Italian class this week or my teacher will kill me.”

“Don’t worry, I’m almost done,” Jeremie answered, grinning.

And then, something happened that Odd couldn’t properly explain.

As soon as Jeremie finished speaking, a black mass suddenly leapt out of his computer. The shadowy, smoke like mass spiraled into the air and startled Jeremie so badly he tossed his computer to the ground. The action caused him to lose his balance, and Jeremie went teetering off the edge of the railing.

Odd rushed toward the other side of the roof, fear coursing through his veins because what the hell? What the hell just happened?

Yumi mimicked his movements and leaned out over the edge, her eyes shut in concentration, and Odd didn’t understand why she nor Ulrich wasn’t particularly concerned about their friend who was plummeting to his death. 

Odd’s eyes remained trained on Jeremie and watched as he suddenly jerked to a stop just feet before he would have hit the ground, levitating in mid-air. Slowly, the blond boy began to float towards the roof of the building, his small body moving up instead of _plummeting towards his untimely death_ like he should have.

Odd just stared as Jeremie gently landed back on the roof, and watched as the boy began to brush himself off. There was a long beat of silence that stretched for an eternity to Odd, the silence practically screaming in his ears as his mind tried to process what the hell he had just witnessed.

Yumi turned to face him, her cheeks flushed as if she had done a strenuous amount of work in the minute that had passed by. Odd could feel himself tremble slightly as she stared at him, her brown eyes boring into his soul. “Odd, can you keep a secret?”

 

The group ended up ditching their afternoon classes, and he struggled to understand where exactly they were going. They ran in silence, not bothering to explain to Odd what just happened or what they were doing or why, only telling him to follow them, deciding to show rather than tell. 

They led him through the forest outside the school, expertly weaving their way through the dirt paths and hauntingly tall trees. It was blatantly clear that they had made this trip hundreds of times before, and Odd was already out of breath when they stopped before a sewer. They made no hesitation to remove the manhole cover and began to descend into the inky darkness of whatever laid below.

Odd shook his head, wondering not for the first time what the hell did he get himself into, and began the descent himself.

He followed the three children as they weaved their way through the labyrinth of the underground. There were two skateboards and a scooter propped up against the side of the wall near the beginning of the journey, by the rusty ladder they had clamored down earlier. He supposed they had forgone their usual transportation just for him.

They hit another ladder and began to ascend. They climbed their way to the top of a bridge, and Odd watched as the Seine swirled beneath their every step. An old factory loomed in front of him, and Odd recognized the building as something he had passed by on the bus.

He followed the three inside, watching as they jumped and slide down the hanging ropes from the ceiling. He followed their example and felt his hands tingle from mild rope burn as his ankles ached from an improper landing. Ulrich wordlessly separated from the group and began to climb a set of stairs that lead to god knows where.

Odd stood where he was for a moment, soaking in his surroundings, a sense of awe swelling up inside him. A large computer sat in front of him, overflowing with exposed cables and wires and a large monitor. Jeremie took his place in front of the computer, pulling a headset over his blond curls, and began to type on the old keyboard. Yumi hovered over Jeremie’s shoulder, watching with an intense curiosity to whatever was going on on the screen.

The stairs Ulrich had climbed lead to a room Odd could only describe as something belonging in a sci-fi flick. Three bronze colored cylinders rose from the ground with various cables sticking out from them, thick wires connecting them all together.

He finally found his voice. “What is going on?”

Yumi glanced at him. “Right. This factory houses a virtual world and virus called Xanadu. Our job is to be virtualized in the digital world and defeat the monsters Xanadu creates.” She glanced at the screen, and as Odd drew nearer, he noticed Ulrich was standing on the screen. “We’re not sure why it exists, but we know it's extremely dangerous.”

“If it’s so dangerous, why do you go in there?”

“Because the world of Xanadu is connected to our world as well.” Just after she finished speaking, a large earthquake began to rise. Yumi stumbled and Odd nearly fell backward as the force of the tremors hit them full on.

“Ulrich,” Jeremie suddenly murmured. He had been staring intently at the screen this whole time, watching as the swarm of black ghosts on the screen began to gang up on the stoic brunet. “I think it’s time you returned. It’s getting pretty dangerous out there, and I’m not sure Yumi will be enough backup.”

“We can’t do that,” Yumi disagreed. “We can’t come back later if we bring him back now. Besides, it’s not just me that will be going. Now we have Odd.”

Odd remained dead silent. He wasn’t exactly fond of the concept of being sent into a virtual world to fight some monster who threatens the existence of the real world. Jeremie bit his lip before nodding, and Yumi gave Odd a small smiled before grabbing his arm.

She guided him up the stairs, and nudged him gently toward the center scanner. She entered her own, and Odd lingered for a moment, trying to gather his nerves. He stepped inside the metal scanner, figuring he didn't have much to lose, and glanced around him just as the scanner door slid shut. A moment of feeling completely trapped washed over him as a stream of warm air billowed below him, ruffling his clothes and his hair. He closed his eyes as the light brightened intensely, and a warm feeling settled within his bones…

 

He opened his eyes just in time to watch himself smash into the grassy ground. He let out a soft groan on reflex despite the fact he didn’t actually feel anything.

“The first landing is always a little rough,” a voice comforted, giggles lacing each word. Odd pushed himself back up before dusting himself off, and glanced around.

Yumi stood to his left, and Ulrich in his front, and he did a double take as he noticed their attire. Yumi was dressed in a red and black patterned kimono, with a face full of perfectly done makeup. Ulrich was dressed as a samurai, clothes of a soft orange and black making up his strange costume.

“Woah,” Odd finally stated. “You look pretty badass.”

“Can’t say the same for you,” Ulrich muttered, his eyes raking up and down Odd. Yumi let loose a few more giggles, and Odd glanced at himself.

“Jeremie, what the hell?” He was a cat. A purple cat. He glanced behind him and sighed because there was a tail swishing back and forth. “Why am I a big purple cat, but they get to be cool warriors?!”

“Well-“ He could picture Jeremie scratching his head- “Xanadu designs your digital avatars based on your subconscious desires.”

“I do not subconsciously wish to be a giant purple cat,” Odd insisted.

“You don’t look… that ridiculous,” Yumi offered, still biting back laughter. Odd pouted at her and crossed his arms, his tail flicking irritably. 

Ulrich glanced behind them, and Odd noticed for the first time the tower in the near distance. A black mass swarmed around the white building, and dread began to form in the pit of his stomach. 

“We do have a job to do,” Ulrich finally said, and began to unsheath a sword Odd hadn’t noticed before. The slender blade appeared to be made out of a glowing binary code, and he twirled it for a moment as he glanced at the others.

“Right,” Yumi nodded, pulling out a set of fans from her back. Odd blinked, before glancing around his body.

“Hey, how come I don’t have a weapon?”

He waved his hand as he spoke, gesturing to Ulrich’s sword. He heard a soft click and watched as a small arrowhead flew out of the knuckle of his left hand. Ulrich’s reaction was thankfully superhuman fast, as he moved his head to avoid being shot in the cheek.

“Oh,” was all Odd could come up with. Not exactly his weapon of choice.

“Enough dawdling guys,” Jeremie chastised. “The earthquakes aren’t exactly letting up over here.”

“Sure thing, Einstein,” Odd cheerfully chirped, and before anyone could react, he immediately took off. Yumi and Ulrich passed a brief look between each other before following the blond, racing their way back toward the tower.

Ulrich arrived first, using his supersprint to gain an easy distance between the other two. He jumped in the air before jamming his blade into a mass of black. The mass split into two smaller pieces, and Ulrich quickly became caught up in the flurry of movement from the shadowy creatures.

“Okay,” Odd began. “What exactly am I supposed to do? And what are those things?”

“They’re Xanadu’s creatures,” Yumi explained, tossing a fan in the air. “They’re an extension of Xanadu himself. They connect him to the real world through that white tower. Our job is to destroy all of the creatures so Xanadu loses his connection to the real world.”

Odd glanced around him and nodded. “Okay. Doesn’t sound too hard.”

A black creature suddenly darted toward him, and Odd quickly held out his arm on instinct. He shot the shadowy mass twice, missing once but hitting it straight on with the other arrow. The mass erupted into lines of data before phasing out completely, disappearing without a trace of ever having been there.

“Weird.”

He began to shoot as fast and as accurately as he could manage. Creatures swirled about him and he found himself having a rather difficult time keeping up with the speedy creatures. They moved too rapidly and their changing courses were extremely hard to predict.

He bit his lip as he released a few more rounds, three arrows hitting two spectres, the other two arrows missing. He jumped back as a spectre suddenly shot toward him, dodging another as it followed in pursuit. He rolled to the side and shot again, hitting one of his attackers and dodged another hit from the other.

Just as he was about to fire off another round, his body suddenly stiffened. The surroundings he had become accustomed to suddenly shifted slightly to an area further away. Ulrich was fighting a particularly large specter. The mass knocked his sword out of his hand and Ulrich groaned.

 _“Aw shit,”_ he had muttered, before promptly being hit full force by a smaller spectre that had ganged up with the other monster. Ulrich stumbled backward and began to fall off the edge of the platform.

The stiffness that locked his limbs in place suddenly dispersed, and the hazy quality quickly went back to normal. Odd blinked, completely caught off guard by what had just happened. What the hell was that?

A specter took advantage of his momentary confusion. The black mass slammed into his stomach, knocking him to the ground. He felt _that_ for sure. Shit.

“Odd! Be careful! You just lost 20 life points!”

“What the hell are life points?” Odd shouted back as he pushed himself up. Angrily, he aimed for the specter he was fairly certain was the one that smacked into him, and began to fire.

“It’s like your health, in a video game? You have a hundred life points, but you just lost 20. If you lose all 100, you get divirtualised and sent back to the real world.”

“You guys really need to learn how to explain this stuff better,” Odd grumbled, and glanced around. Where was Ulrich?

A soft “oh shit” rang in his ears and he twisted to his left. Ulrich was a long distance away, and the sword he had been branding was a few feet to his right, just beside the large specter in front of him. Odd noticed the smaller one buzzing in excitement, and aimed his wrist.

He knew the flight pattern it was about to take. He took a deep breath before releasing a string of three arrows, and watched as all three hit the mass dead on. The specter exploded into lines of codes, and Ulrich glanced over at him, a small smirk on his face.

Odd gave him a two-fingered salute and turned back toward his own monsters after watching Ulrich supersprint after his sword. In the back of his mind, he wondered what would have happened if Ulrich had fallen off. A question for another time.

He noticed that in helping Ulrich, he had let himself become too distracted. A massive amount of black specters had circled around him, and he did not enjoy the feeling of being cornered. He glanced around before his eyes landed on the tower, the only available object on the terrain that could be of assistance.

“Catch me if you can!” He yelled, sprinting after the tower. The monsters quickly followed him, and he began to run on all fours, his hands and feet slapping against the false soil of the equally faux forest biome, and could feel his speed increasing to a much faster pace than on two legs. 

He clamored his way to the tower and began to ascend it. Claws dug into the surface of the tower as he climbed, and he decided that maybe being a cat wasn’t so bad after all.

He flipped off of the tower, jumping behind the monsters as they rushed toward where he had been. He fired off as many shots as he could manage, hitting most of his targets on his way back to the ground.

The stiffness returned in his limbs, and he murmured a soft groan. The setting remained the same, only with the now familiar hazy, dreamlike quality that made him wonder if it was possible to hallucinate in a virtual world. Yumi was to his right, only tossing one fan, the other missing.

 _“Yumi! You only have twenty life points left!”_ Jeremie voice rang.

 _“I’m trying,”_ Yumi huffed. Her fan missed her target, and she brought her fingers to her forehead. The fan moved back toward her target, hitting the mass dead on. 

The momentary distraction costed her. Another specter smashed into her side, and Odd watched in horror as her body began to dissolve into blue squares of codes. Was that the aforementioned devirtualization?

The vision faded, and Odd felt a pain prick his side before he found himself eating dirt. 

“Your down to 60 life points Odd!” Jeremie shouted. “Why are you just standing around?”

“It’s not by choice!” Odd yelled back, pushing himself up and shooting at the mass that had tackled him. There weren’t nearly as many specters as there were a few minutes ago. They were close to being done.

He glanced around, searching for Yumi. Where was she…

Another dark mass hurtled toward him, but this time he leaped away, dodging quickly. A different specter had also followed him, however, and slammed into his back as he jumped away from the other one. He hissed as he flew into a tree, his head knocking against the trunk of the fake tree.

“Forty life points Odd!”

“I get the picture!” He grunted as he heaved himself back up only to get knocked back down again. A massive specter had targeted him while he was seeing stars, and he was slammed right back into the ground. He groaned from the impact, his rib cage feeling like it had been squeezed like a soda can.

“Twenty life points Odd! Be careful!”

Odd shot off a rapid succession of arrows, striking the massive specter that had struck him. He would be feeling smug if he didn’t feel like all the oxygen had been forced out of him. He shot again and began to aim for a few of the smaller ones that had dived after him, trying to get back into the rhythm of fighting.

“Yumi! You only have twenty life points left!” Jeremie squawked, and Odd swiveled his head to find Yumi a few yards away.

“I’m trying,” Yumi grunted, pressing her fingers to her temples. A white glow surrounded the fan as it moved to strike the black mass. He propelled himself forward and began to shoot wildly, searching for the specter that devirtualised Yumi in his vision. 

His eyes locked on to a specter spiraling toward her. He took a breath before pulling the trigger, and watched as arrow after arrow fired into the black mass. He grinned as he watched Yumi flash him a thumbs up before her smile turned into a grimace.

“Odd, look out!”

He swiveled just in time to feel himself become crushed under the weight of a massive specter. Too late.

He felt himself begin to divirtualize, and watched as his legs began to fade into blue squares of codes before the rest of his body quickly followed suit. A numbness filled his senses and he wondered if this is what it felt like to die.

Blackness finally overtook him as he faded out completely, the last thought of his slipping out of his mouth just before he disappeared.

“Shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Odd got swept into the battle and doesn't understand anything that just happened.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odd finally learns a bit about the origins of the group and super computer.

Odd nearly collapsed to the ground, sheer willpower the only thing holding him up. He leaned his head out of the scanner and took a big gulp of air, feeling his limbs shaking as he clutched the sides of the scanner.

That was an utterly terrifying experience Odd was both absolutely dreading to go through again yet thrilled to do so. 

“Odd? You okay?” Jeremie called, and Odd licked his lips as he stepped out of the scanner, his legs no longer shaking as bad as they had been.

“Yeah, yeah,” he answered after a moment. “I’m fine.”

“Come on back. Yumi and Ulrich are just about done.”

Odd began his walk down the stairs and quickly reached the computer room. Jeremie was sitting in his chair, watching the screen, his head leaning on his folded hands. He slowly turned back to face Odd, the lighting from the screen behind him giving him an eerie glow.

“I’m sure you still have a lot of questions,” Jeremie slowly began. “But before you do, I need to check something.”

“What’s up?”

“Did you discover your ability while in Xanadu?” Jeremie cocked his head.

“Ability?”

“Like Ulrich’s super speed? Yumi’s telekinesis? Did you develop a power of your own?”

Odd blinked, memories of his strange visions flooding back to him. “Yeah. I think so, anyway. I don’t know what else they could be.”

Jeremie perked up. “Oh really? What was it?”

“I think I can predict the future?”

“Fascinating!” Jeremie muttered, clasping his hands together as he glanced at Odd like he was a brand new specimen that needed to be studied. “How do you do so? How far into the future can you see? How often do they occur? What happens when you have one? How-“

“Slow down. I’m not really sure how they happen? I’ll just be in the middle of something, and then I’ll suddenly have, like, a vision. I’ll freeze up for a few seconds, and the scenery will change to wherever the vision is taking place in, and then I'll see what’s supposed to happen. Then it’ll fade back to where I was and it’s over. And so far they’ve only been a few minutes into the future, and I’ve only had two.”

Jeremie nodded. “I’m sure the frequency will increase, along with how far you can see into the future. Yumi’s telekinesis at the start could barely pick up a chair, let alone a human. And Ulrich wasn’t always as fast as he was. Your powers may develop further.”

Odd rubbed his eyes. “These powers will follow me into the real world, right?”

“Yes. You see, Xanadu creates the powers for you to help you better adjust to the digital world. It imbedded the coding into your DNA, forcing the codes to become apart of you even outside of the digital realm. This leads to you developing your powers despite being in the real world.”

Odd blearily squinted at Jeremie. “Not sure I follow. This computer gives me the codes for my power, and sticks it in my DNA?”

Jeremie drummed his fingers on his chair. “Basically.”

“So if we shut off the supercomputer, what will happen to the powers? To my DNA?”

Jeremie bit his lips. “We… don’t actually know.”

“Jeremie!” A voice called, interrupting Odd before he could voice concerns about Jeremie’s statement.. “The tower is cleared. We’re ready to head back!”

Jeremie swivelled around in his chair, forcing his back to face Odd. He scanned the screen for a few moments before responding, “Great job. Xanadu’s monsters seem to be apprehended, and the tower is no longer activated. I’ll be bringing you back momentarily.”

Odd watched as Jeremie’s fingers flew across the keyboard. There were so many questions he needed answered, and he was already starting to think that he had made a big mistake in going to Xanadu. But it was too late now, so the second best thing to do was to gain as much information as he could.

He listened to the scanners suddenly open, and heard a soft gasp. He supposed the shock of returning to the real world never would fade. Did graphic deaths only cause the strange shock to the system, or did all divirtualizations? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.

Ulrich and Yumi quickly appeared in the computer lab, looking as worn as Odd felt. Yumi gave him a small smile and placed an elbow on his shoulder.

“I gotta say, you did pretty great out there for your first time!” She smiled brighter. “You really saved our skins a few times.”

Odd shrugged. “What can I say? I’m just a naturally quick learner.”

Ulrich sat down on the edge of the green couch, watching the two for a few moments. He picked at the fabric before grunting, “Good work.”

“Now that we’re all gathered here,” Jeremie began very calmly. “We can answer all of your questions. It’s the least we can do, all things considered.”

Odd stuffed his hands in his pockets, shuffling his weight. There were so many questions he had, and he wasn’t sure where to even start.

“How did you find this place?” He asked.

“I found it while I was scavenging for parts so I could make some robots,” Jeremie answered. “I thought this old factory ought to have some spare metal plates or some scraps that I could use, and I found this supercomputer instead. I turned it on to see what it was.”

“How did you guys get involved?” Odd turned to face both Yumi and Ulrich.

“Xanadu was released from the computer, and possessed some of Jeremie’s robotic trinkets. They began to attack him. Ulrich and I were on our way to our Pencak Silat practice and we helped him fight his possessed robots. In return, he explained what was happening and showed us the super computer.”

“By that point he figured out that a virus was running rampant in the computer, and had hacked his robots,” Ulrich continued. “He told us that the only way to stop the virus was to go to Xanadu and figure out what to do from there.”

“And you went?” Odd asked.

“Yeah,” Yumi answered. “After what I saw with the weird robots, I figured there wasn’t much to lose..

Ulrich nodded in agreeance. “We went to Xanadu and found a tower surrounded by those black creatures, and we fought them.”

“Meanwhile, I was getting attacked by the factory equipment,” Jeremie stated, sounding annoyed. “Xanadu has the ability to possess anything with an electrical current, see? So it possessed all the factory equipment and tried to kill me.”

“We deactivated the tower, and Jeremie explained what had happened while we were in Xanadu.”

“Why didn’t you just turn off the computer after that?”

“We can’t,” Yumi said, sounding bitter. “Xanadu has somehow made it impossible to shut the machine off for good.”

“He’s coded so many firewalls and I can’t possibly figure out away to shut it off. The computer seems to need some sort of key in order to be turned off, like a lock. And, as I said before, we don’t know what will happen to any of you once we do shut down the supercomputer. What will happen to your DNA is still unknown.”

Odd blinked, and bit his lip. “How long have you been doing this?”

“September 3th was when we started,” Yumi answered.

“It’s October 5th now, so a little over a month,” Jeremie murmured.

“How often are the Xanadu attacks?”

“Usually twice a week, give or take.”

“Shit, man. You have to do this nearly twice a week every week?”

“Yeah…”

Odd watched as they shifted their weight uncomfortably, glancing at the ground or the ceiling. “Do you know anything about why this thing exists?”

“Not really,” Jeremie answered. “We know a man we call the ‘Professor’ created the machine, from the scraps of data I’ve managed to recover from the hard drive,, but we don’t know anything about him other than the machine seemed to have been made ten years ago, and that there’s a secret passageway from the school into this factory.”

“There’s a what?” Odd exclaimed. 

“Yeah. Back near the science hall, there’s a secret, closed off room where a tunnel leads to the factory.”

“What the hell?”

“We found that passageway about a week ago. It leads us to believe that the Professor was a teacher here at Kadic, but we haven’t been able to expand on that lead. We’ve been… rather busy.”

Odd nodded. “Right. So you have no idea why this exists?”

“Not really.”

Odd rubbed his eyes. “Okay. Okay. This is all pretty crazy.”

“Listen,” Jeremie suddenly said, and he was staring directly at Odd now. “I just want to tell you that we’re not going to force you into doing this. I know it’s a lot of information at once, and that you may not want to go through with helping us once you realize the extent of the damage Xanadu can cause. These earthquakes were just the beginning. You don’t have to join if you don’t want to.”

“But we really do need help,” Yumi calmly added. “Xanadu has only been growing stronger, and we need help now more than ever. We wouldn’t have been able to defeat him today if you hadn’t been there. If we have any hope of shutting him down, we’d really like to have your help.”

“Think about it,” Ulrich simply stated, a strange gleam in his eye as he gave his advice.

Odd opened his mouth to speak, because he had already made up his mind. His choice had been made up for him, either by fate or simple coincidence, and he already knew that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he knew that his friends were suffering through these daily trips, nearly being killed by Xanadu almost everyday, and desperately needed help. 

He had been given a place in the group, even if it was by accident, and he sure as hell planned to pull his weight.

Besides, it had been kind of fun.

A stiffness filled his limbs, and he froze in place, unable to move. The scene around him swirled into a different setting, appearing to take place inside an old worn down elevator.

 _“Sissi,”_ a tall, equally worn and old man said. He was Principal Delmas, if Odd remembered correctly, from his mangy beard and well ironed-suit. _“What exactly are we doing here?”_

 _“I told you,”_ Sissi stated. _“Jeremie and his gang have been up to something ever since they arrived here, and I plan on getting to the bottom of it! I followed them here during the break! They should be in class!”_

 _“The Belpois gang always has been suspicious to me,”_ a tall, sturdy built man with a band-aid on his cheek supplied. _”I’m certain they’re up to no good.”_

The scene suddenly switched back to the room he was in, and Odd blinked as he readjusted to his surroundings. Yumi was giving him a concerned look, Jeremie looked excited, and Ulrich was wearing that permanent poker face.

“You have an elevator in here? Where?” Odd suddenly asked, twisting around to search for it as he spoke. 

“Yeah? It’s over on the other side of the room. We don’t use it much because it leads to the heart of the super computer, and it’s very slow. How did you know?” Yumi looked confused as she watched him, pushing back loose strands of hair.

“You had a vision, right?” Jeremie asked, that gleeful expression still on his face. “What happened? What did you see?”

“Someone’s coming down here.” He bit his lip. “Sissi and Principal Delmas, and some other man who wears a lot of red and has a bandaid on his cheek-“

“Jim Morales,” Ulrich supplied.

“The gym teacher,” Jeremie explained. “He’s always been fixated on us. He’s the only teacher who really notices how often we disappear. He’s pretty convinced were involved in some sort of conspiracy, though even he’s not sure what that entails.”

“Yeah, well, Sissi apparently followed us to the factory, went back to grab her father and Jim, and then came back here to bust us.”

Yumi frowned. “We have to leave. We can’t let them know that we’re involved in this.”

“But the elevator is our only exit, unless you think you can climb that rope in just a few seconds to the second story!”

The elevator suddenly went off in the back of the room, the soft hum Odd hadn’t noticed before fading out. The doors screeched as they opened, wheels combatting the usage of them after so many years of abandonment, and Sissi Delmas soon appeared to stare him straight in the eye as she placed her hands on her hips.

“I warned you,” she stated, clearly speaking to him. “And I’m not surprised that you didn’t listen. Bet you wish you did now, hm?”

“What is going on?” Principal Delmas inquired, glancing around the room in complete awe. “Belpois, Ishiyama, Stern! Do you have any excuses for this?”

Jeremie was typing madly away at the keyboard, his usual grace filled with frantic strokes. Yumi and Ulrich shared a look of worry, and Odd bit his lip. Uncertainty filled the air as each of them tried to come up with a plan.

“Well,” Odd finally stated. “This is quite the problem.”

“Who are you?” Jim asked, glancing him over. “Are you a student at Kadic too? You look pretty small to be a high school student though….”

Odd pouted. “I’m Odd Della Robbia, thank you very much, and I just transferred to Kadic.”

“First day of school and you already managed to join a cult,” Sissi muttered.

“Odd, what are you even doing here?” Delmas asked, exasperated. “Can you explain to us what is going on?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jeremie calmly interrupted. “Because in five seconds, you’re not going to remember any of this.” He slammed his finger on the enter key, and yelled, “Return to the past, now!”

A blanket of energy swallowed the group following his exclamation. Odd didn’t have time to react before everything went white.

 

He found himself back up on the roof of the school, Jeremie sitting precariously in the railing, Yumi and Ulrich in front of him. He blinked a few times, wondered if it was possible to hallucinate vividly for two hours straight, and took a deep breath.

“What the hell?” He finally said, gaining the attention of the others.

“Jeremie, what did you do?” Yumi asked, fear and confusion clear on her face. Ulrich turned an uneasy look at Jeremie, clearly rattled by the turn of events.

Jeremie shut the laptop and quickly hopped off the railing, probably remembering what had happened last time. “Remember how I found that strange, encrypted piece of programming about two weeks ago?”

“No,” Odd stated flatly.

“Well, I found this piece of programming while searching through the supercomputer to find more information on the construction behind the computer. I’ve been spending about two weeks trying to decide it, and I’ve finally managed to do so.”

Ulrich nodded. “I remember that.”

“So the program….,” Yumi began, completely dumbfounded. “Can time travel?”

“Only to the past,” Jeremie explained. “I programmed it to bring us back to this specific time, so we won’t miss our classes this time around.”

Odd rubbed his forehead. “You’re telling me you guys can time travel now?”

“Apparently so,” Yumi muttered. “As glad as I am that we avoided being caught because of this thing, how do we know that they can’t remember?”

“You see, the reason why all of us remember is because we’ve been inside the supercomputer, on Xanadu. The supercomputer recognises us as apart of itself, and allows us to remain unaltered. Others who have not experienced the transfer to Xanadu, however, can not retain their memories because they lack the protection provided by Xanadu.”

Odd leaned against the rail. “Then how do you remember? You’ve been to Xanadu?”

“Yeah, at the very beginning I did. I was curious to see what it would be like, but…”

“He was too scared to ever go back,” Yumi snickered. Jeremie pouted and crossed his arms defensively.

“What did you look like?” Odd asked, tilting his head. 

“Ridiculous,” Ulrich simply supplied

“Worse than a big purple cat?” Odd inquired. 

“Up there.”

“I don’t need to hear this,” Jeremie muttered. “In any case, the Return to the Past program is now available for us to use. This will definitely be useful for the future.”

Yumi nodded. “We really could have used that before.”

“Well, now we have it.” Jeremie glanced at Odd, and again he stared directly into his eyes. “Do you understand that no matter your choice, you must keep this a secret? You can’t tell anybody what has happened or your involvement in this group.”

“Right. But why don’t we contact the police or something? Don’t you think they’d be able to handle this better than us?”

“I’m not sure how much we can trust the government at this point. I have suspicions to believe that they were involved in the creation and subsequent abandonment of Xanadu, and the possible disappearance of the Professor. Not only that, but I have concerns over what they will do to us. We may be arrested for various crimes, and subjected to experimentation due to our powers.”

Odd blinked. Not entirely the answer he was expecting. A government conspiracy was just icing on the cake.“Oh.”

“Basically, we don’t know what they’ll do if they discover our altered DNA,” Yumi simplified.

“So, you see why it’s important to keep this a secret?” Jeremie repeated.

Odd nodded. “Of course, but I’ve already made up my mind anyway.”

Jeremie frowned. “Are you sure? You’re more than welcome to take as much time as you want to think it over. It’s a big decision. You have a choice in this.”

“Yep,” Odd agreed, popping his ‘p’ as he rocked on his heels. “And I choose to help you guys. You all complained about not having enough help, and I don’t think I could live with myself knowing my best friends are out there, putting their life on the line, while I just sit by. I’m choosing to help not because I have to, but because I want to.”

Jeremie nodded. “I see.”

“I do have a few issues, though,” Odd continued, and smirked as the other three frowned at him.

“Which are?”

“The whole name-game. Xanadu is both the place and the virus? That’s really confusing. We should have a name for the virtual world.”

Jeremie shook his head. “That’s what it was called in the few notes I’ve managed to find on the computer. The Professor called both Xanadu because the virtual world was an extension of Xanadu.”

“Yes, but it’s very confusing! It makes a lot more sense to separate the land from the being!”

“What do you suggest?” Yumi asked, humouring him out of curiosity.

“Hm.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “How about Lyoko?”

“Lyoko? Why that?” Jeremie asked.

“It sounds cool!”

“I like it,” Ulrich offered.

“Me too,” Yumi agreed.

Jeremie opened his mouth, prepared to argue, but sighed. “Okay. Lyoko it is, I suppose. What else is a problem?”

“Those creature-things! They gotta have names too! I don’t just want to call them those weird Xanadu shadows!”

“Actually, we did name those. We referred to them as spectres,” Yumi said, smiling softly. Odd grinned right back and nodded.

“I suppose that works. Mysterious and spooky sounding- perfect for those creepy things!”

Ulrich gave a small smile, amused at Odd’s antics, and Odd couldn’t help but feel pleased at putting a smile on the normally stoic brunet. “Anything else?”

“Nope. I think that’s it for now. You guys are just real bad at naming things.”

Jeremie gently placed his hand on Odd’s small shoulder, giving Odd a large grin. “Welcome to the team, Odd.”

Odd gave him an ear splitting grin in response as his surroundings began to fade.

 

_A woman stood at a window, almost sitting on the indention in the wall. She held a cup of coffee in her hand, her green eyes staring into the distance._

_The room appeared to be a classroom, chairs visible behind her and desks aligned into perfect room. Posters of various colours and sizes were plastered against the brick walls, their words too small to read._

_She shivered suddenly, and glanced at the small laptop sitting on top of her crossed legs. She had been in the middle of typing something, lines of coding blurring across the screen. She frowned as a sense of deja vu settled across her skin, images of already typing in the codes she had just been thinking of fluttering in her brain._

_“The return to the past,” she muttered. “Someone activated the return to the past.”_

_She abruptly stood up, and snapped the lid of her computer shut. She glanced at a clock before setting it on her desk. There was only a couple of minutes before her students would file in, and she saw some hovering near the window of her shut door. “So it seemed my theory that the machine had been destroyed was false after all. The hunt is back on.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s that.  
> Odd just wants to give these things better names.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremie gives Odd more information about the origins of their powers and Xanadu attacks.

Odd blinked as he watched Jeremie code, idly spinning in his desk chair as Jeremie sat on his bed. It had been two days since he had become an official member of the self-proclaimed Lyoko Warriors, and Odd couldn't help the giddiness he still felt at the thought. His days had gone by slow as they waited for the next Xanadu attack, and in the meanwhile he learned the ropes about Kadic through the rest of the team’s guidance (although in all honesty, it was really only Yumi who had been helping him out, as Jeremie was busy and Ulrich wasn’t exactly talkative).

His strange visions were starting to become a hindrance, however. He’s only had a few other more, and they were quickly getting on his nerves. They always seemed to happen at the worst possible moment, like when he was walking down the stairs, or when they were doing the balance beam in gym class (he had already nearly received detention for making a “spectacle”, but Jim decided that he’d grant some leeway since he was new).

They didn’t even predict anything useful. They’d just show him a basic conversation he was going to have barely a few seconds in the future. And he still hadn’t been able to make heads or tails of that last one he’d had with that teacher in the classroom. She looked so familiar, and yet he couldn’t place it. Like a fog had covered her, making her not invisible but her features intangible.

“Hey Jeremie,” Odd began, staring at the ceiling in boredom. Speaking of his strange visions… “I need to come up with a snazzy name for my power. I feel dumb calling them just visions when Ulrich gets to call his superspeed Supersprint.”

Jeremie glanced over at him, giving him an expression Odd didn’t have the vocabulary to describe. “And you want my help in doing so? I thought you said all of us were bad at naming things.”

“Yeah, but I need help. Any suggestions….?”

Jeremie hummed as he suddenly stopped typing. “How about… Anticipation?”

Odd began to idly kick his legs, thinking the name over. “Not bad. But it doesn’t have any… pizzazz!”

“Then what do you think?”

He paused. “How about ‘Future Flash’? Hm?”

“Flashy, but it’s up to you, I suppose.”

Odd winked at him and nodded. “If it’s flashy to you, Einstein, then it must have some pizzazz.”

“Einstein?”

“Yeah! ‘Cause you’re so smart like him and all!”

Jeremie pushed up his glasses and softly smiled. “Not a fan of nicknames, but I’ll take the compliment.”

“Speaking of my powers and your smartness,” Odd began cautiously. “Something’s been bothering me.”

“Oh?”

“If Xanadu is our enemy, then why does it create our powers for us?”

Jeremie glanced at Odd, giving him a long, long look. “Well… if you want to know, I actually have a theory about that.”

“Shoot.”

“Xanadu isn’t the one behind your guy’s powers.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You remember the layout of Xana- of Lyoko? How it seemed to be a very large island floating over some sort of body of water?”

Odd paused, thinking of when he watched Ulrich fall over the edge in a Future Flash. “Yeah…”

“We call that body of water the Digital Sea. In any case, I’ve been running a few tests to see what’s exactly down there, and I’ve come back relatively empty-handed. However, I found a large amount of energy housed within the depths of the sea.”

Odd blinked. “You think… the energy has something to do with our powers?”

“Yep. The energy levels suddenly dropped when you were virtualized, which is when the computer is developing powers for you. Five minutes after you were virtualized, the energy went back to its normal levels. It may be safe to assume that the drop in energy in from it trying to create your powers.”

“Weird,” Odd mumbled. “I wonder what that energy is.”

Jeremie glanced back at his computer. “I have theories on that as well, but I need more time to get back to you one that.”

Odd watched him for a moment and listened to the monotone clicks as Jeremie resumed his typing. It was strange to listen to the others talk about Xanadu, and how much they didn’t know despite doing this for much longer. They knew so much more than him, and yet simultaneously didn’t.

Strange.

 

P.E. seemed to drag on forever. They were doing track and field, and so far Jim was focusing on the 100-meter sprint. It was bland to watch and even worse to perform.

Odd watched as Ulrich was called up to the starting point. He didn’t know many of his classmates’ names at this point, and only knew that there were three other boys lined up next to him. He was fairly certain the one closest to Ulrich was named Theo, though.

He stood there, tapping his foot impatiently. Jeremie was nowhere to be seen (unsurprisingly), having taken an excuse of intense migraines to stay in his room and code some security programs. Odd didn’t even pretend to understand how they worked or what they did, no matter how hard he listened to Jeremie’s technobabble. 

Yumi was in a grade above, and if he remembered correctly, was in her biology class. He idly glanced around at the rest of the class, trying to gauge how friendly they were. He was so bored, and chatting up a few girls didn’t seem like a bad idea.

“Hey Della Robbia,” a snide voice called, and Odd turned his gaze from a fairly good looking blonde to Sissi Delmas suddenly standing next to him, her hand on her hips, and two boys following her. “Did your friends abandon you already?”

“Hey Sissi,” he said as sweetly as possible. “Did you get a nose job? If so, I’d ask for a refund.”

She crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “Haha. That’s hilarious coming from the freakshow.”

“As much as I’m enjoying this conversation, what exactly are you doing here?” He glanced at the two other boys. “And who’s the entourage?”

“Nickolas and Hervé, but they’re not important.” The two lackeys made grunts of dissatisfaction at that statement. “I’m just here to watch Ulrich win.”

Jim blew the whistle, and Odd watched as the group of boys shot off. It was clear as day that Ulrich was the fastest, even without the boost of his supersprint, and he began to gain quite the distance between him and the others. “No question about that.”

“Of course. Not only is he stunning in his looks, but he’s also stunning in his athletics.” She glanced back to him and gave him a quick once over. “It’s a wonder why he’d hang out with such a scrawny stick.”

Odd pursed his lips. “I’ll show you scrawny.”

The boys returned from their short-lived sprint, and he gave a quick high five to Ulrich before taking his place at the track. One of Sissi’s lackeys, Hervé, stood next to him, along with two girls he didn’t recognize. He’d show Sissi.

The whistle rang in his ears and he shot off. He’d never been very good at long distance running, but sprinting wasn’t too hard to perform. Besides, now he had motivation.

His vision suddenly swirled after a few seconds of running, and the track melted away. He watched as Ulrich’s phone suddenly began to buzz, and the brunet quickly held it up to his ear.

 _“What is it?”_ he hissed. There was some sort of gasp from the crowd, but Ulrich ignored it.

_“Xanadu attack! I’m not sure what the attack is, so you better grab Odd and hurry up over to the factory!”_

_“We’re in the middle of P.E., we can’t just sneak away-”_ Ulrich cut himself off before bursting into a grin. _“Nevermind.”_

The scene quickly shifted back to the track, and Odd didn’t adjust to the change of pace quick enough. He heard the faint ringtone of Ulrich's phone as he stumbled forward, his feet losing their traction. He let out an embarrassing yelp before tumbling down, shoving his hands out in front of him on instinct to break the fall. His chin scraped the ground, and his world spun slightly as a tremor raked through his body. Damn, that hurt.

For an indiscernible amount of time, Odd simply laid on the track. He couldn’t find it in himself to get back up, as pain and humiliation were great motivators for staying face down on the ground.

“Della Robbia!” he heard Jim bellow, his voice a cross between anger and concern. Maybe he’d stayed down for too long.“Are you alright?”

He felt a hand suddenly grab his arm, and he instinctively began to struggle. “He looks injured. I’ll take him to the nurse.”

Ulrich was hovering over him, his hand clutching his arm before pulling him up. Odd winced and let himself be lead by the taller boy as he continued to grip his elbow, as if he was concerned that he would fall without support.  
“Jeremie calle-”

“Xanadu attack, yeah.” Odd rubbed his head gingerly. Boy did he feel a bruise there. “I just had a Future Flash about that.”

He could hear the snicker in Ulrich’s voice as he stated. “I’m guessing that’s what made you trip.”

He began to lead him toward the school to avoid suspicion, and Odd watched as the trees in the background began to grow bigger. He glanced behind him before saying, “C’mon, let’s ditch this place. The last one to the sewer is a rotten specter!”

Odd broke free from Ulrich’s grip and made a sprint to the forest, glad nothing hurt too badly from the tumble he took. Ulrich chased after him, voicing his thoughts about Odd cheating, and then immediately drove ahead using his supersprint.

Odd was not at all jealous.

 

“Finally,” Jeremie muttered, watching as the two boys slid down the ropes. Odd gave an annoyed glare at Ulrich before glancing at Jeremie.

“What’s the sitch?” Odd asked as Yumi looked away from the screen.

“Don’t make early 2000’s cartoon references,” Jeremie immediately responded. “I can’t tell what Xanadu is doing. There’s been nothing in the news about any supernatural or just unusual incidents that could be considered Xanadu’s doing.”

The lights above them flickered slightly, and Odd felt an uneasy dread fill his stomach. “Well, whatever he’s doing, we better stop it, hm?”

“Yeah. Head to the scanners and I’ll send you to Lyoko.”

The trio did as ordered, and matched to their designated scanner. Odd took the one in the middle, a strange sort of magnetic draw pushing him toward the one he had used all those days ago. Ulrich took to his left, and Yumi to his right.

The same claustrophobia filled his limbs as the doors slid shut, and he closed his eyes as a waft of hot air burst under him. He could feel the lights brighten intensely, and a whiteness filled his vision as a numb warmness pricked his skin.

 

He hit the ground with a thump and immediately felt something was wrong. He landed better than last time, having managed to land on all fours, and was hunching on his hind legs before a strange dizziness filled his senses.

“Ulrich! Yumi! Odd! Please answer me! Are you alright?! Say something!”

Jeremie’s voice was frantic, and Odd knew something went wrong. He glanced at Yumi and Ulrich, who had appeared moments before him, and they seemed to feel just as uneasy.

“We’re all here, Jeremie,” Yumi answered, glancing at Odd before nodding. 

“What’s the problem?” Odd called.

“Xanadu’s taken over the factory! But this time, he’s messed with the scanners and something went wrong with your virtualizations. I’m working through it now, but I can’t tell what exactly he did.”

Odd bit his lip. “That’s all? Then don’t worry about it. We’ll deactivate the tower before anything happens.” 

“Just be careful. The tower is north of your current location.”

“Of course,” Yumi offered, before glancing at the two boys. “Let’s go.”

They took off, and Odd instinctively began to run on all fours. While he wasn’t surprised, he was disappointed to see that his outfit remained the same. What a shame.

The white tower suddenly appeared over the horizon, haunting the skyline as masses of black creatures buzzed around it. It glowed a ruby red, something he hadn’t noticed on his first trip.

They split up, and Odd grinned as he leaped toward the specters. He quickly began to fire off as many arrows as he could, taking careful aim. Three hit the targets dead on, while one missed. Not too shabby.

He ducked out of the way of a particularly large one, rolling to the side before jumping back up. He tracked its flight pattern before sending another wave of arrows its way and grinned excitedly when the mass exploded.

A black blur flew across his vision and he felt himself get smacked in the chest. The air in his lungs suddenly left, and he choked for air as his head slammed against the ground. It’s too early in the game for this shit.

“Odd! 80 life points left!”

Odd sent a nasty look at the specter and shot off some more rounds. He immediately became aware of his surroundings, noticing the group of black beings surrounding him on all sides. The tower was too far away to pull the stunt he had the first time, and he needed more terrain to work with.

He took off toward his right, seeing multiple large cables come up from the ground, clearly attached to the tower. He clambered over as fast as he could, his feet slapping against the ground, a numbness in his body as he sprinted.

He jumped on top of the exposed cable and slid down, dodging a mass attack from the specters. They barrelled over him as they attempted to pulverize him, but hit the ground instead. It seemed that these creatures weren’t good at maneuvering.

He released a series of arrows, hitting three of the targets, and immediately began to run again, watching as they chased him. His vision began to fade, and his last coherent thought was a string of various curse words.

 _“I figured out what the problem is!”_ Jeremie shouted, his voice shaking. _“Xanadu messed with the dematerialization program.”_

 _“What does that mean?”_ Yumi yelled, tossing her fan to slash a specter angrily in half.

_“It means that if you get devirtualized, you’ll die in the real world.”_

_“Shit,”_ he heard Ulrich muttered.

The vision disappeared like smoke before his eyes, and he felt himself trip. He cursed again as he pulled his arms out to stop his fall. He grunted as he felt a sharp jab to his back, and felt himself get shoved into the ground with such a high force he felt like a 2-ton weight was sitting on his back.

“Odd! 60 life points left!”

“Jeremie, do you know what the problem is?” He yelled back, ignoring his increasingly depleted life points. He ducked just in time to miss a specter attempt to knock his head off his shoulders.

“Not quite- why?”

“It’s the dematerialization program! That’s the problem! If any of us get dematerialized, it’ll malfunction and we’ll die! Permanent deletion!”

“Shit.” He heard Jeremie’s heavy breathing as he assumed he was combing through the aforementioned program to verify. He continued his dance with the creatures, dodging blow after blow, a strange fear coursing through him.

“Odd, you’re right.” He could hear the fear lacing Jeremie’s voice. “Yumi, Ulrich, Odd and I figured out the problem with the dematerialization program. Xanadu has messed with it to cause permanent deletion if you get devirtualized!”

“Holy shit,” he heard Ulrich answer back from a ways away.

“I’m going to do everything I can to change it back, but I don’t know how long that will take. Xanadu has also begun to take over the factory, so I’m not sure what he’s planning on doing here. Basically, please hurry but be careful!”

“We’re trying,” Odd yelled back as he jumped over a specter that charged over him. He landed on his hands for a second before immediately somersaulting off the creature, and began to flip through the air. He shot a few more arrows, hitting the specter he had just jumped off and two others on his right.

He landed and rolled away, dodging an attack from a large mass. He stuck out his tongue at the group, and yelled, “Is that all you got?”

He laughed as he ducked again, but quickly stopped when a second one charged right at him. It narrowly missed the back of his head, and as Odd began to lose his balance, he jutted out a leg. His foot connected with the specter, and clearly made some damage. The specter spiraled from the hit and smacked into a second one, the impact causing them to explode. Odd blinked.

“I meant to do that.”

The hair on the back of his neck prickled and he instinctively ducked. A sword that glowed with blue codes flew over his head, and Odd watched with wide eyes as it dug into the side of a specter that has been chasing him.

“Holy shit,” he stated, glancing behind him to see Ulrich staring at him with pursed lips. “You almost hit me!”

“But I didn’t. You ducked.”

“That’s not the point!”

Ulrich shrugged, and before he could blink, the boy was a few feet away picking up his sword. Odd really envied that power.

Almost immediately, Ulrich charged off toward his left, and Odd watched in vague annoyance before turning his attention back to the specters. He began to run again, watching all of his sides and shot off a few arrows in between strides, aiming to head toward the tower. He needed more terrain, or else this fight wasn't going to end well.

A black mass hurled into his shoulder, tackling him to the ground. He groaned as he slid across the grassy floor, and could feel a nauseating pain flash through his head.

As stars clouded his vision, another Future Flash wormed its way into his sight. 

_“Odd! You only have twenty life points left!”_ Jeremie yelled, frantic. _“Ulrich, you just lost another twenty life points as well! You’re both down to twenty!”_

Ulrich was grimacing as he wielded his sword, biting his lip. He slashed a specter in half and dodged another, clearly surrounded by a majority of the remaining specters. 

He briefly began to run with his supersprint boost, before jumping in the air at a ridiculously high distance and stabbed a specter that hovered just above the ground. He landed, but a slight misstep caused him to trip over one of the various sizes of rocks lying on the ground.

Just as he tripped, Odd watched as another specter shot toward him, using the distraction to his advantage. The monster hit Ulrich squat in the back, and Odd watched as he began to dissolve into a pile of glowing blue squares.

_“Ulrich!”_

Odd jumped from the ground, fear coursing through his veins as he frantically began to search for his friend. His ducked in time to miss a specter, and began to sprint as fast as he could. Where the hell was he?

He shot off a few more arrows as he watched two specters swirl into his sight. He missed one of them but hit the other, and couldn’t stop fast enough to dodge the one charging toward him.

The specter hit him dead on, and Odd collapsed to the ground as his knees buckled. His throat burned like a fire had been lit inside it, the specter having hit his head, neck, and upper chest, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe, choking on air. 

He laid on the ground for few seconds, stunned and dazed from the hit. Blearily, he watched as the black figures in front of him began to buzz away, no longer chasing him. They disappeared from his vision, clearly moving away from him.

Strange.

Shouldn’t they be trying to finish the job?

“Odd! You only have 20 life points left!” Jeremie yelled, and he could hear the panic in his voice. In the distance, he heard a loud yell. “Ulrich, you just lost another twenty life points as well! You’re down to twenty!”

That snapped Odd out of his daze.

He pulled himself up, and began to run, trying to follow where he had heard Ulrich’s grunt. His ears flickered around, and once again he was surprisingly grateful he was a cat.

He finally found Ulrich, just as he was jumping into the air. He saw the deadly specter and held up his hand to shoot, taking a deep breath.

No arrows came out.

Panic filled Odd’s veins as he tried again. Still no arrows.

What the hell? Now was not the time for this shit.

He watched as Ulrich tripped, and the specter began to rush toward him. With no hesitation and admittedly no other plan, Odd sprinted madly, dashing across the distance as fast as his legs could carry him. He could make it. Just a few more seconds and he could make it.

Adrenaline coursed through his blood as he smacked right into Ulrich, tackling the brunet to the ground. A black mass struck Odd’s side, and he felt himself be torn off of Ulrich from the force of the hit. 

He tumbled across the ground for a moment, cursing his slowness. He had nearly dodged the bastard. So close.

Numbness filled his bones and he closed his eyes. He was becoming familiar with the feeling of devirtualisation, and he had to say he wasn’t much of a fan.

“Odd!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah i killed odd again


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odd learns more about the man who started it all.

The doors slid open, and Odd tumbled out, his whole body feeling limp. The world tilted and he felt like a defenseless rag doll with how his limbs refused to cooperate, dead weights attached to his paralyzed body.

Before he could fall face first into the ground for about the third time in one day, two arms grabbed his shoulders, and he felt pressed against someone’s chest. His vision went black for a moment as soft fabric rubbed against his cheek.

“You weigh the same as a couple of grapes,” he heard, and he looked up to find Yumi looking down at him. Her lips were curled in a small smile, but her eyes portrayed her feelings of anxiety.

“So I’ve been told,” he responded in good humor, before slowly trying to push himself away. Yumi continued to offer her support, holding his arm, and Odd stood up properly, feeling strangely sore. She lead him down the stairs, and gently set him on the couch. Odd had never been more grateful for the concept of a chair, fatigue settling in his bones.

Jeremie had been watching him the entire time, and let out a quiet sigh. “Thank god you’re alright…. For a second there…” He trailed off ominously.

“What happened?” Odd asked. He had gotten devirtualized, last he remembered. But Yumi and Ulrich were standing in front of him, so clearly more time had passed. And he wasn’t dead, so something had clearly happened while he was out.

“You got divirtualized just before I figured out how to debug Xanadu’s program. I launched the proper materialization program just after you left Lyoko, and you were… stuck in limbo for a few minutes.” Jeremie bit his lip, looking nervous at the thought.

“Limbo?”

“A place between Lyoko and reality. It’s where you go when you virtualize and devirtualize as the scanner inserts you into Lyoko, or kicks you out. You usually only spend a split second there.”

There was a long pause as Odd soaked in the information. “So I died?”

“I mean- well- not really?”

“That’s not encouraging at all,” Odd stated. “But whatever. How long was I out?”

“26 minutes,” Ulrich answered, and Odd saw that his face was strangely pale. 

“Damn.” It was all he could think of. “Well, I’m still in one piece, and it seems that you guys deactivated the tower, so it’s still a win, yeah?”

“You are certainly taking this all in stride,” Yumi commented. “But yes, I suppose this qualifies as a win. We were able to finish off the specters while you were out of commision.”

Odd suddenly lit up. “That reminds me! Those specter things- when I hit twenty life points, they suddenly disappeared!”

“What do you mean?”

“When I got hit and it left me at twenty life points, all the spectres that had been attacking me beforehand suddenly left and swarmed Ulrich. They had an easy opportunity to finish the job- you know, kill me- but they suddenly left!”

Jeremie’s brow furrowed. “That’s… quite the quagmire.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means Xanadu didn’t want to kill you,” Ulrich suddenly spoke, his voice eerily quiet and emotionless. “It means he doesn’t want you dead.”

A shudder went down Odd’s spine. “Why?”

“Who knows,” Jeremie murmured. “But it means he wants something with you, most likely. Or he decided Ulrich would be an easier target.”

They remained silent for a moment, contemplating the situation they had. What could Xanadu want from him? What did he have that made him not as expendable? Clearly, he was still bent on killing the others, if the attack on Ulrich was any indication. 

What made him so special?

Or were they overthinking this?

Odd took a deep breath. “Another thing. When I was trying to help Ulrich, just before I got devirtualized, my arrows wouldn’t work. I couldn’t shoot anymore, like I ran out or something.”

Jeremie frowned. “That’s strange.”

He suddenly walked away, moving toward the supercomputer. Odd blearily watched him as he opened up a window and began to code. His avatar popped up for a moment, and he heard Jeremie hum in displeasure.

“As it turns out, you have a total of 24 arrows to shoot before you need to reload,” Jeremie explained. “You must have run out before you could help Ulrich.”

“I’m really beginning to think that I got the short end of the stick on Lyoko,” Odd grumbled. 

Jeremie gave him an apologetic look. “I’ll see what I can do about fixing the program, but that might take a while.”

“It’s fine,” Odd stated. “As long as I can get reloaded, it’s not the end of the world.”

There was a loud silence that fell over the group. Maybe his word choice hadn’t been the best.

“Let’s head back to class,” Yumi suggested at last. “I’m sure we have some angry teachers awaiting us.”

Ulrich blew out a rough sigh. “Let’s go.”

 

It was the end of the day, and Odd had taken to wandering the halls again. Nothing interesting had happened after they had arrived back at school, and he visited the nurse before continuing on with his day. His knees and chin still throbbed, but he was otherwise fine from his mishap at the track.

Now, he and Ulrich were walking around. Yumi had volunteered Ulrich to show him where the other entrance to the sewers and subsequently the factory was from the school, and Ulrich didn’t protest.

They walked in silence; well, Ulrich did.

“I can’t believe there’s a secret entrance in this school,” Odd commented. “Why would this even exist?” Ulrich grunted. “If the Professor really was a teacher here, and this leads to the sewers, can you imagine the gossip there had to have been about him? Like surely all those trips must have made him smell, right?”

They turned down the science hallway and Odd ran smack into a young lady. He stumbled backward, and was only saved from falling flat on his ass through Ulrich’s quick reflex. His arm gripped Odd’s and helped him remain balanced as the lady stumbled backward.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” She blurted. It was Ms. Schaeffer. She was holding a book about Paris’s underground tunnels and a laptop. She appeared rather frazzled.

“Oh no problem,” Odd retorted, before tapping her computer lid. “Glad you didn’t drop that, ma’am.”

She let out an awkward laugh as she pulled away just noticeably as if to make sure he didn’t touch it again. “Very true. I have to get going, or else I would stay and chat. I’m in a bit of a hurry, I’m sure you could tell. I hope you boys have a good day, and uh, keep out of trouble.”

She quickly walked off, her heels clicking against the tiled floor as she began to mumble to herself. Odd watched her for a moment, her short, curly hair swaying in time with her slightly off gait. Ulrich tugged him along and they continued their walk down the hall.

“What a strange woman,” Odd finally stated. “Do you know anything about her?”

Ulrich hummed, clearly debating on whether he should bother to answer. “She’s from Canada. Arrived here the day after Jeremie turned on the supercomputer after the old computer science teacher had a heart attack. She’s the daughter of a friend of Principal Delmas.”

Odd hummed in response. “Canadian, huh? Her last name doesn’t sound Canadian. Sounds almost Swiss or something. ”

“You have a Norse first name yet you’re Italian.”

“There’s a backstory to that,” Odd said, winking. “But you have to be at level four friendship to unlock that tragic backstory.”

A small grin carved itself on Ulrich’s face. “Tragic backstory?”

“Tragic backstory.”

Ulrich suddenly stopped in his tracks, and Odd nearly bumped into him. Ulrich glanced around wearily before gesturing to a boarded up door. “Behind here. Can you pick locks?”

Odd blinked. “Yeah, totally.”

Ulrich shoved him toward the door and waited expectantly. Odd fished around for a bobby pin in his pocket and set to work.

Not too long later, Odd pushed the door open. The boards forced both of them to crawl on the floor to get inside, and Odd was met with a swath of inky darkness.

Ulrich flipped the light switch, and a gaping hole in the wall met Odd. Shivers ran down Odd’s spine as he stared at the boarded up wall, deja vu settling deep inside his bones.

The setting changed, and the sound of thunder clogged his eardrums as lightning momentarily blinded him. Unlike his previous Future Flashes, this one had a strange, almost static quality to it. A fog had settled over the scenery and refused to lift.

He felt himself running on the tiled floor of the school, before turning down the hall and entered a tunnel connected to the school, pulling frantically at the boards. He only had one chance, the thought racing through his head, and it was imperative that he made it count.

Lightning flashed through the cracks overhead, the smell of the sewer clogging his nose. Water splashed under his sneakers, and for some reason, he was filled with a sense of pure panic and fear as he raced down the tunnel, with only one thought on his mind. He had to hurry.

The vision quickly disappeared, the small blurb leaving Odd in a trance. It was as if it had been cut off short, like he was supposed to see more, but something was holding him back-

A hand grabbed his shoulder, and Odd didn’t suppress the flinch that washed over him. Ulrich raised an eyebrow at him, clearly concerned.

“Are you alright?” He asked, watching him with keen brown eyes. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just had a Future Flash.”

When Odd didn’t expand on that, Ulrich gave him a short nod. “Well, this was all I needed to show you. The tunnel connects to the one in the forest, and then you simply follow the same route. It’s easy.”

Odd nodded. “Sounds easy enough. Do you guys use it often?”

“No.”

Odd waited for more and wasn’t too surprised when there wasn’t. They exited the room, Odd locking the door behind them, making sure nothing appeared disturbed by their visit. 

They walked down the hall but didn’t make it far before Odd stopped in front of a classroom. Ulrich noticed his sudden halt and eyed him with suspicion as Odd glanced at the room number.

“The secret tunnel is right next to this science room,” Odd began very calmly. “In fact, if I remember correctly there’s a door in this room that leads to the secret tunnel since it’s actually the closest to this room.”

Ulrich seemed to follow his train of thought. “Do you think that the Professor taught in that room?”

“It’s quite a coincidence. If the Professor was a teacher, surely he’d be a science teacher since he built that computer.” He glanced at the room number again. “And a computer science one at that. It all adds up, right?”

Ulrich paused. “There’s been many teachers that taught computer science. No one has been able to maintain a job in that position for various reasons.”

“Jeremie said the computer was built ten years ago, right? So we figure out who the teacher that taught here ten years ago was, and then we’ll have the answer.”

Ulrich nodded. “Right.”

Odd grinned. “Then let’s head to the library. Don’t they have yearbooks of all the classes from their first to present year? If we look through ten years ago, 1993, with the computer science class, then we should find the Professor?”

“Yes. Let’s go.”

They raced down the halls, and quickly sprinted through the courtyard to cross over to the large building connected to the English hall. Excitement coursed through Odd at the prospect of aiding his friends in the unraveling mystery of Lyoko.

He wasn’t entirely sure how the identity of the Professor will help them out, but he was certain that it would.

Ulrich took the lead as they ran into the library, and ignored the angry chastising glares from the librarian about their loud entrance. He lead Odd through the maze of books ranging from fiction to biographies to picture books until they finally reached the very end of the library. In a corner tucked away from the rest of the large room, a small shelf was filled to the brim with thick books labeled with different years over the course of Kadic’s existence.

Odd grinned brightly as Ulrich picked the one labeled 1993-1994, and hovered over his shoulder. He watched as Ulrich carefully flipped through the papers, looking for the staff section. He scanned the pictures of smiling yet simultaneously grimacing teachers that stared back at him, some young and some old. Very little looked familiar to him, with the exception of Principal Delmas, and he was fairly certain he had seen Jim.

Suddenly, Ulrich jammed his finger at a particular picture of a man with a scruffy grey beard and round glasses that reflected the light so much his eyes were hidden. There was an air of intelligence that many other teachers lacked, and Odd couldn’t help but feel that the face staring at him was very familiar. The words ‘computer science teacher’ was etched in worn gold under the man’s photograph, along with the fact that this was his fifth year teaching at Kadic.

“Franz Hopper,” Odd read out loud, his voice a whisper. He wasn’t sure why.

Ulrich pulled out his phone and set the book in Odd’s hands. He snapped a quick picture of the old man and glanced at Odd. “Do you think it’s him?”

“I’m certain,” Odd mumbled. “Let’s talk to Principal Delmas.”

Ulrich looked vaguely disgruntled. “Shouldn’t we confer with Jeremie about him?”

“Maybe, but I want more information about this guy if he really is the Professor.” Odd rubbed his head as he glanced at the picture in his hands. He slowly closed the book, watching as dust particles swirled in the air with his movements. He didn’t want to look at the picture any longer, a feeling of unease at the sight of the man causing him to quickly put the book away. “I want to confirm before we tell Jeremie of our discovery.”

Ulrich opened his mouth as if to argue, before nodding. “I see. Then let’s go.”

 

The trip to Delmas’ office had been strangely quiet. Odd was not one for stewing in silence and had spoken all of his thoughts and concerns to Ulrich during the trip, but Ulrich was completely unresponsive this time. Odd didn’t blame him.

It must be strange to chase after the elusive, ghost of the man who created the supercomputer, spending weeks trying to find him, only for some random kid to make a dumb connection that lead to the reveal of the identity of the man they all loathe and admire.

They knocked on the door, and after a moment’s pause, were ushered in. Delmas sat in his seat just like he had on Odd’s first day of school. He was clicking on the mouse of his computer rather rapidly, and from the concentration he was giving to the screen, Odd would not be surprised to learn that he was actually playing some game instead of doing his work

“Mr. Delmas,” Odd began. “We were wondering if you could spare some time to help us with something.”

Delmas gave him an amused look as he let go of the mouse. “And that is?”

“Do you remember a man named Franz Hopper?”

Delmas blinked, completely taken aback. “Franz Hopper?”

“Yeah. He was a computer science teacher here about ten years ago. Remember him?”

“How could I forget?” He rubbed his eyes, smudging his glasses. “I haven't heard that name in a long while, kids. I’m just surprised you know that name.”

“Is there anything you can tell us about him?”

“He was a good colleague of mine. He was easily the brightest man on our staff, and I know he liked to invent things on the side. He used to hang out with a Professor Tyron for a while, and I know they were working on some sort of project. He was very hardworking, very easy going, but a bit of a snoop and too smart for his own good sometimes. I know he got tangled up in some sort of a government affair, and I’m certain his penchant for meddling in affairs that didn’t impact him lead him down that road.” He hummed. “He was a remarkable man, and it’s a shame that what happened to him did happen.”

“What did happen to him?”

“He simply disappeared. One day he was here, teaching a lecture on computer science, and the next he was gone. I often wonder what happened to that man.” Delmas gave them a strange look. “What in the world brought you to wonder about him? And how do you even know him? He disappeared ten years ago.”

“He’s a distant relative of mine on my mother’s side,” Odd answered confidently. If you sound like you know what you’re saying without any hint of doubt, you usually don’t get questioned. “He married a cousin of my mother and I sometimes hear about him in family reunions. I heard that he had taught here, so I was curious about him.”

Delmas blinked, surprised. “Really? I didn’t know he had any family outside of Anthea and his little girl. Well, I hope I gave you the information you were looking for.”

“You did. In fact, I think we need to be heading out. It’s nearing curfew, and I’m certain Ulrich wants to rest for his Pencak Silat practice.”

“Thank you, sir,” Ulrich offered awkwardly, taking Odd’s cue and the two began to leave. They quietly left the principal’s office and made their way to their dorms. Odd was vibrating in excitement.

“It all checks out,” he finally said once they were far enough away from the office. “It really does. The timeline fits, the description of his intelligence and hobby of building things.”

“Not to mention his involvement in some sort of government affair.” Ulrich had a wicked gleam in his eye. “And his subsequent, mysterious disappearance ten years ago, probably after the supercomputer had been built.”

“What do you think happened to the guy?”

“Jeremie thinks he’s on Lyoko,” Ulrich answered, frowning in thought, his brows furrowing. “But I’m not sure. We’ve never found another person on Lyoko before.”

Odd paused. “He thinks he’s on Lyoko?”

“If Franz Hopper disappeared, it’s either because he did something the government didn't want him to and was… taken out… or he left this reality for another.”

The words didn’t quite sink in. The prospect of Franz Hopper having been murdered for the creation of Lyoko and Xanadu had crossed his mind, but it felt rather harsh to consider it out loud. And yet the idea of Franz Hopper having been trapped on Lyoko for ten or so years almost felt worse. Odd didn’t think he’d be able to survive years in a place where you have no senses and no human contact. He’d probably make it a week, tops.

“What do you think?” Ulrich shot back. His brown eyes held an intensity to them that Odd couldn’t bring himself to meet. 

“I’m not sure.” His gut told him it wasn’t so simple to figure out where he was. 

A silence passed over them as they contemplated Franz Hopper’s fate. It was strange to think about the man as a real human, as a being who lived and now probably didn’t.

And yet it wasn’t his fate that really interested Odd. He couldn’t help but wonder over his motives. Why did he get involved in the government? Why would he ever create a place like Lyoko? Why would he create the malicious virus Xanadu? The return to the past feature was understandable, but the rest of the story didn’t seem to add up. He felt like he only had one puzzle piece, and was still searching for the rest that had gotten lost along the way.

“We need to tell Jeremie and Yumi,” Odd finally stated. He noticed that they were in the dorm area. In fact, Jeremie’s dorm wasn’t even that far away. “Let’s go.”

Without knocking, Odd barged into Jeremie’s room. It was dimly lit save for the computer screen that flashed with lines of indecipherable codes. The light bounced off of Jeremie’s round glasses, hiding his blue eyes behind a wall of light, and Odd couldn’t help but think of the picture of Franz Hopper and his ominous smile with his masked eyes.

“What do you guys need?” Jeremie asked without looking up from the screen, his eyes glued to the lines of code.

“We think we figured out who the Professor is,” Ulrich stated plainly.

Jeremie's head snapped up. “What?”

“Yep,” Odd confirmed. “We think he was the old computer science teacher that taught here ten years ago, Franz Hopper.”

Ulrich pulled out his phone and showed the picture to Jeremie. Sharp blue eyes took in the image with analytical prowess, swallowing up every inch of the small image. “Franz Hopper?”

Ulrich and Odd relayed all the information they had on the man, and Jeremie sat in his chair, a strange expression crossing his face. He folded his hands on his lap and leaned forward, listening intently to the details they shared.

“It adds up,” Jeremie admitted. “If Franz Hopper had really been involved in some sort of government affair like Delmas said, it would stand to reason that the project had been Lyoko, and subsequently Xanadu. The timeline matches as well, and the location of the tunnel to the supercomputer in the room’s closet makes perfect sense.”

Odd grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that. I think Hopper’s the guy.”

Jeremie nodded. “I’ll research this Hopper guy as soon as I can, but I do have an important encryption to get to.” His eyes lit up. “I found another scrap of data on the supercomputer, and I think it may help us out. I’ve almost finished decoding it.”

“I wonder what it is…?”

“Not sure. It seems to be a bunch of numbers, at the moment.” Jeremie gave him a once over. “You did a good job Odd. I’m glad you’re on our side.”

“Thanks, Einstein. That means a lot from you.”

Jeremie laughed. “So, Franz Hopper, huh?”

“The man who started it all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> franz hopper was a little bi/tch and they were all just too polite to say so (but they were definitely thinking it)
> 
> i feel like i rushed this with the reveal of the professor, but y'all already knew who he was anyway, and hes a pretty important character so...


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Odd gets to go on a solo mission, and misses out on all the poorly recited Shakespeare.

He dangled his legs on the edge of the stage, watching as his classmates began to set up the backgrounds. They were going to put on a production of Romeo and Juliet for the school, and Odd’s part was to play the music. 

Ulrich was to play Romeo, and Odd was fairly disappointed to learn that that Yumi was not his Juliet. Instead, she was playing the guard in one of the scenes. Odd didn’t even know that there was a guard in the play (to be fair, he’d never read it, and didn’t really want to).

It had been a few days since the last Xanadu attack, and Odd was still reeling from it. Paranoia filled his every thought no matter how much he tried to suppress the feeling. Ulrich’s words haunted him, because what if he was right? What if Xanadu had some sort of plan for him?

The strange Future Flash he had was giving him much to think about as well. He had recognised it as a part of the recurring dream he’d been having for weeks now, and he wasn't sure what to make of that. Was his dream actually a glimpse into the future? Or was his Future Flash going haywire and needed tuning? 

He didn’t know, and wasn’t keen on finding out. He didn’t want more questions than answers.

He strummed aimlessly on the guitar. Now wasn’t the time to get lost in thought. People were around, and he’d already had a Future Flash in science class that made a disruption during Mrs. Hertz’s lecture on laughing gas. He really did not want to make another public spectacle of himself.

“Are you Odd Della Robbia?” a high pitched voice asked, and Odd glanced from the guitar to two students who had snuck up on him. One was a pasty toned, red headed girl holding a notepad and microphone, and the other was a darker skinned girl with a long ponytail, holding a camcorder pointed at his face. He smiled into the camera.

“That’s me, the one and only!” He gave them a questioning look. He was fairly sure he hadn’t met them before. “Sorry, but I’m not very good at names. Who are you guys?”

“I’m Milly,” the girl with red hair answered. “And she's Tamiya. We’re with the Kadic News. We’re the school news reporters.”

“We’re doing a special over some of the foreign exchange students here,” Tamiya explained. “And we heard that you were new here, and from Italy, so we figured you’d be a good start to interview.”

Milly looked slightly miffed. “I was getting to that. Anyway, we just want to ask you a few questions for our eager readers. What do you say?”

“I say it’s pretty pathetic that you have to come to this loser for a story,” Sissi’s high pitched voice interrupted. She stood behind Odd, looking annoyed at the younger girls.

“Well, they haven’t hit rock bottom yet, or else they’d be interviewing you.” Odd shrugged as he played a chord to match his last few words. 

Sissi always seemed surprised to see him talk back to her, and he could never pin point quite why she had that reaction. He knew the other Lyoko warriors didn’t tolerate her bullshit, so she’s been challenged before. Maybe it was because his hostility seemed to come from nowhere; after all, she didn’t remember ratting them out to her father.

“I’m a goldmine of information,” she informed him. “There’s plenty I could share that would be interesting to the students here.”

“Like what? Your infinite knowledge on ‘how to be an idiot in less than five steps’? That would be a great tutorial, coming from an expert.”

She huffed indignantly as Milly giggled. “Write it yourself, dweeb!”

“I think they’d want it from a person who could give good insight on what an idiot’s mind was like. Especially if it was coming from a primary source.”

Sissi stomped her foot. “Whatever! I’m wasting my time talking to a dense freak like you!”

She angrily walked off, her nostrils flaring in annoyance as her face turned a shade of red. Milly and Tamiya were watching him with a strange sort of respect, and Odd flashed them a grin. 

“I’ll give you that interview, but I think rehearsal is about to start soon, so maybe later.”

“No problem. We’ll contact you after you finished,” Milly answered. She and Tamiya began to walk away, and he could hear her whisper, “Did you get all of that on tape?”

They were finished setting up, and Odd moved his way to the side of the stage, setting down on the chair provided for him. He tuned the guitar quickly, and watched as the others began to move into their positions. The director yelled for them to start, and he watched as Sissi emerged.

She looked rather ridiculous in her costume, but as he turned to see Ulrich, he realised he had been lucky to not have a real part in the play. Those costumes writes attrocious.

“Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Sissi began, sighing dramatically. “Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”

Ulrich hesitantly began to speak. “Sh-shall I hear more, or shall I, uh, speak at this?”

“Tis but a name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a-”

Odd’s laughter suddenly interrupted her monologue. He nearly dropped his guitar as he began to laugh maniacally, his cheeks hurting from the force of his grinning. He doubled over, his sides hurting from laughing so hard, and he wished he could stop, but no matter how hard he willed himself he couldn’t stop laughing, and it was rather terrifying.

“What’s so funny?” Sissi yelled. “Are you making fun of my acting?”

Odd didn’t respond, and only kept on laughing. Sissi stomped over to him and picked up his bottle of water. “We’ll see who’s laughing now!”

She opened the cap and poured the water on top of his head, soaking his hair and face. He forced a breath of air into his lungs, and began to choke on it as he finally stopped laughing. He could feel his friends’ watchful eyes without even looking up.

The director eyed the two students and sighed. “Okay. Let’s take a break to sort this out.”

Immediately, the cast disassembled. Ulrich and Yumi were at his side in an instant, and had concerned expressions on their faces. Sissi sneered at him and walked off, heading toward the teacher to, most likely, complain about his behaviour.

“I know Sissi’s acting wasn't exactly deserving of a César,” Yumi began. “But that was a bit much.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Odd argued. “I was just sitting there and the urge to laugh suddenly came over me, and before I knew it I was in some sort of, like, laughing fit. It felt like I was being controlled.”

“Xanadu attack?” Ulrich muttered.

“Jeremie would tell us if it was,” Yumi disregarded. “And I really hope not. I can’t afford to miss this play. My parents have been fighting again, and I was really hoping to use this to bring them back together before it gets really rough.”

Ulrich noded. “Until Jeremie calls us, we’ll wait.”

Odd hesitated, before sighing. “Sounds fair enough.”

After all, of Jeremie’s alarm didn’t go off, it couldn’t be something to worry about. 

 

Odd left the theatre to check on Jeremie. The play was about to start soon, and Odd knew he likely wouldn’t have enough time to make it back before it began.

He hadn’t heard from the boy-wonder in quite a while, and he needed some time away. It was hard to watch Yumi and Ulrich send each other love sick gazes as Yumi fed Ulrich his lines that he was supposed to have memorised but didn’t. He knew Ulrich was a bad actor, but this was something else. He really didn’t understand how he got the part in the first place...

He rubbed his head. He really wanted today to end. In science class and theatre he managed to make a fool of himself, and he considered not bothering to attend the play altogether. As much as he loved to hog attention, he didn’t want to risk having a Future Flash and accidentally drop his guitar or play the wrong chords. 

His Future Flash wasn’t even that interesting. It was just him receiving his science test back fifteen minutes into the future, and frowning at his poor grade. It predicted his poor grade, but not the questions on the test like he had hoped for.

He hovered by Jeremie’s dorm, trying to remember where he was. Did he say he was going to the factory? He still needed to decrypt that file he found, so probably….

His phone began to buzz, and he quickly fished it out. “Yeah?”

“It’s Jeremie. Head to the factory! Xanadu has launched an attack, but managed to go around my alarm system. He’s been active for a few hours now and I’m not sure what he’s planning.”

Odd didn't want to say that he called it, but he totally did. “I might know what the attack is.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. A few hours ago, I was at rehearsal and I suddenly had the urge to laugh. I began to laugh and I couldn’t stop until Sissi poured water on my head. It felt like I was being controlled or something.”

There was a pause. “That’s sounds like laughing gas.”

“That makes sense.”

“Can you call the others? Tell them the situation?”

“No problem.” Jeremie quickly hung up, and he punched in Yumi’s number. “Yumi?”

“Odd? Where are you? What’s up?”

“Jeremie just called. Xanadu’s attacking, and Jeremie and I think he’s using laughing gas.”

There was a pause. “Shit. The play is going on, and I can’t skip… I really need my parents here to get them to resolve their petty fight… and Mr. Chardin won’t let us leave now that it’s starting...”

“Then I’ll go to Lyoko,” Odd answered. “Ulrich can stay with you in case anything goes wrong, and I’ll just go on in Lyoko.”

“What? No, I can’t ask-“

“Listen. You can finish up the act and then head over as soon as possible. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Totally. I’ll be fine! I’ve fought tougher guys than Xanadu. Just hurry.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

Yumi hung up, and Odd took a deep breath. He could do this alone. He won’t last nearly as long, but Ulrich and Yumi will definitely be there in time, he was sure. All they had to do was attend the first act, and then they could leave.

He knew the theatre teacher would be guarding those exits like a watchdog anyway. He had always been a stickler against students sneaking out during a play they were in. He’d catch them if they tried to give them the slip right away.

He’ll be fine.

 

He slid down the rope, his hands still tingling from the action. Jereme turned around to face him, his eyes lingering on him before a confused look crossed his face.

“Where are the others?”

“They can’t make it at the moment.”

“What?”

“They need to finish playing the first act before they can slip away. Yumi needs to get her parents to stop fighting, and the theatre director won’t let them leave anyway.”

Jeremie frowned. “You’re the only one left then…. I can’t send you in all alone, Odd. You’re completely inexperienced for solo missions. You’re a fast learner, but this is way too much way too soon..”

“Do we have a choice, Einstein? Isn’t laughing gas, like, fatal?”

“Yes. Mrs. Hertz said that prolonged exposure can cause a person to suffocate from a lack of oxygen intake…”

“Then we have no time to waste!”

“I…” Jeremie bit his lip, carefully weigh in this options. He clearly wasn’t impressed. After a moment, he slowly nodded. “Yes. Okay. I’ll send you in. But please, be careful.”

“Careful is my middle name!” Odd cheerfully shouted as he climbed up the stairs as fast as he could. Jeremie mumbled something he didn’t catch, but determined was likely an insult, and smirked.

He stepped into the middle scanner, grinning madly. The doors slide closed, and the air billowed his clothes and hair. As the lights brightened, he had the sudden urge to laugh…

 

Odd fell to Lyoko, and this time didn’t stick the landing. Everything in him felt wrong, and he felt so weak he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand.

Shit.

“Odd!” Jeremie’s voice was frantic. “Odd! Answer me!”

“I’m here, Einstein,” he weakly answers, pulling himself off the ground as best he could. He heard a sigh of relief.

“Thank god. Something went wrong in your devirtualisation. Are you okay?”

“I’m… I’m pretty weak,” Odd admitted. “I had a really bad urge to laugh before I got sent to Lyoko…”

“The laughing gas must have followed you into the scanner and got virtualized with you! Shit!”

“It’s fine,” Odd insisted. “I’ll just have to work around it.”

“Odd, you can’t be serious! You can’t fight like this!”

“Yes I can!” Odd sighed. “Just tell me where the tower is.”

“It’s suicide-“

“Where’s the tower?”

A pause. “South of your current position.”

Odd didn’t wait to hear anything else. He sprinted across the field of grass, moving on all fours, his limbs aching. Jeremie’s voice fading into the background as he focused on keeping himself steady.

The tower was thankfully fairly close to his starting position. Odd paused a while away, the swarms of black creatures not detecting his presence yet. He gulped in as much air as he could, feeling so out of breath his ribs seemed to rattle.

He was beginning to think that this had, in fact, been a bad idea.

Too late now.

He sprinted toward the spectres, and they quickly saw him approach.Not long after, he became surrounded on all sides, and realised he was at a big disadvantage.

He shot a rapid succession of laser arrows at the masses, trying to carefully aim. His hand shook too much, however, and only one arrow hit its target. 

This was not looking good.

 

Jeremie frowned as he sat at the computer, tracking Odd’s movements. The hairs on the back of his neck pricked, and he turned around quickly in his chair. A heap of gas floated in the air, near invisible, but the faint scent was enough to recognise it as Xanadu’s latest attack.

“Odd,” he began into his mic. “Odd, I have to go. Xanadu’s found me. I gotta hide.”

“Yeah, yeah, leave me hanging.” Odd sounded more tired than the last time he had spoken. “Go on. I’ll be fine.”

Jeremie set down the headset, and immediately bolted out of the chair. The mass of laughing gas pursued him, and Jeremie frantically tried to think of a plan. 

He tried to remember Mrs. Hertz’s lesson. What counteracted laughing gas again?

He took a breath, and was sent into a spiral of uncontrollable laughter. He cackled maniacally as he continued to run, and he frantically tried to keep calm.

He saw the rain drainage water, and jumped in. Water counteracted the effects!

As soon as he resurfaced, the laughter he had been forcing out of his system suddenly stopped. The gas had left his body, and he could feel Xanadu watching him. He was trapped.

He hoped Odd was doing better.

 

Odd coughed as he dodged an attack from a specter, rolling on the ground and tried to orient himself from all the spinning. He narrowly missed another aim toward his head, and coughed louder this time. He couldn’t breathe on Lyoko anyway, yet that somehow managed to make him feel worse.

His aim was still pretty deplorable, so he had taken on a more defensive route. He hoped that Yumi and Ulrich would be here soon, but something told him his back up won’t be coming.

There was no way he was going to be able to take on all of the specters and still come out on top. He rubbed his forehead as he ducked another deadly blow. 

His limbs suddenly stiffened, and he cursed his luck.

_“Deny thy father,” Sissi’s voice began, “and refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love-”_

Mad laughter rang our throughout the theatre. Ulrich was doubled over on his knees, cackling up a storm, an expression that didn’t match his usually stoic mood. Sissi shot him an incredulous look, too stunned to even chastise him for breaking character.

More laughter came from the right, and Yumi was lying on the floor, giggling profusely as Sissi stared on in confusion. The crowd murmured in fear and uncertainty; was this apart of the show?

_“You idiots!” Sissi finally yelled, before grabbing a bottle of water on the edge of the stage._

Odd blinked and frowned. Ulrich and Yumi were definitely too preoccupied to help him. Oh boy.

A spectre lashed out at him, and this time he didn’t react fast enough. The spectre smashed into his rib cage, removing any oxegen he had finally regained. His head slammed against the ground, and for a moment he was completely stunned by the harsh blow. Was Lyoko supposed to be spinning like this?

He got up to his feet, and the world tilted precariously. He desperately needed a plan…

An idea sprung to mind. He sprinted toward the tower, dodging an attack aimed for his shoulders as he spun around. The swarm followed him as he ran, and he grinned weakly at them.

He climbed up the side of the tower, before flipping off in a fashion similar to his first trip. He landed on the back of a spectre, and dug his claws into the back of it. The spectre began to move in the direction Odd was guiding it, and Odd let out a war whoop as he created his own magic carpet.

Lifting a hand, he shot off a few more rounds. With the aerial advantage, he was able to hit nearly all his targets. Perfect. He loved being a genius.

He let loose a few more rounds, hitting more of the spectors as he did so. His hold on the spector he was riding was losing its grip, and he didn’t have much time left. 

He eyed the group that was swarming his right, and grinned eagerly. He forced the specter to dive toward them, and watched as they drew nearer and nearer. Timing was everything.

At the last second, he jumped off the specter, and watched as it collided into four other specters. All five exploded upon impact, and he pumped his fist in the air.

“Sorry Mary,” he yelled. He had admittedly grown attached to the specter he had been riding. “Better luck next time.”

There was only a few more left. He could take them.

His back stung as he was tossed into a lone tree, his face bashed against the trunk as a spector struck his spine. He groaned in pain as he tried to recover from the hit, and laid on the ground for a moment to regain his bearings.

Maybe he didn’t have this.

He rolled out of the way just before another spector hit the area he had previously occupied. He grinned and shot it, before weakly dropping his hand in favour of watching the flight patterns of the others.

A dizzy spell passed over him from the rolling, and he stumbled slightly. This gave another spector the opportunity to strike him, and Odd crashed into the ground, spitting out virtual drift as burns snaked up his arms and torso, his chin screaming in pain. Oh boy.

He had lost count of his life points. He was fairly sure he was at forty.

He ducked and began to run. He climbed up a tree, digging his claws into the textured bark as he ran up the side. Before the spectors could follow him, he jumped off a branch and shot rapidly, hoping for quantity over quality, and was pleased as a few more spectors were eliminated.

He felt out of breath, but there was no way he could take a break. His muscles ached and protested with every movement, but he knew that if he stopped, it would be a fatal mistake for more than just himself. He had to keep going, no matter how spent he had felt.

Another spell of paralyzation filled his limbs, and he frowned in frustration.

 _“What should we call it?”_ He heard Jeremie ask. He was seated in the factory, Yumi on the couch next to Ulrich while Odd propped himself up on the arm.

 _“They look a lot like jellyfishes…,”_ Yumi observed. _“Blue creatures with tentacles.”_

_“It was the biggest jellyfish I’d ever seen. I never though the jellyfish would be the animal I’d be the most scared of.”_

_“How about we call it the Scyphozoa?”_

_“Perfect!”_

Odd tripped and tumbled to the ground. His head became pressed into the grassy floor as a massive force struck his left cheek. He cursed his power with as many vulgar words as he could think of. Useless! So useless!

Or maybe it was an omen? A warning he was about to see something new? A… a jellyfish?

He strained his ears, trying to listen for anything that would indicate a newcomer. The buzzing sound of the spectres echoed in his skull, and after a brief amount of time, he gave up.

However, the distinct sound of animalistic screeching filled his ears as he gave up.

He swivelled to his right, and tried to prepare himself for a fight. He was already pretty weak, and the spectres were tough enough as it was. He wasn’t sure he could take on a new monster.

A blue creature slithered toward him, its head completely translucent to reveal a relatively small brain at the center. Tentacles propelled the being, looking exactly like a strange, oversized and overfeed jellyfish.

“What the _hell_ is that?” Odd asked himself out loud, trying to take in the strange creature. What the hell?

And then, it clicked.

The Scyphozoa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Odd’s,,,,,, tired  
> yeah it’s laughing fit I loved that episode man


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The show goes on.

Odd watched the creature with suspicious eyes, trying to figure what exactly to do. Yumi and Ulrich never mentioned a giant squid before. Was this, like, a boss battle? 

Lyoko had many similarities between a video game. He’d heard Jeremie chastise him many times that Lyoko was not a video game, but the similarities between the physics and set up was uncanny. Was that what the Scyphozoa was? Just a big boss battle?

Black masses moving in the corner of his eyes diverted his attention, and he shot off a few more rounds. He needed to deactivate the tower. That was the main priority, considering lives were likely on the line, so he’ll have to put the new creature on the back burner for now.

The spectres didn’t attack him anymore, and instead were buzzing in place, watching him. It’s was suspicious and vaguely eerie, but Odd used it to his advantage. He continued to fire as much as he could, hoping he wouldn’t run out of ammunition.

They hit their mark, his hit-miss ratio having improved slightly. The masses of creatures finally dispersed, and Odd could no longer find any other spectres.  
Now that Odd thought about it, there hadn’t been as many spectres around like the last few times he’d been here. Strange.

The lack of spectres made the realm of Lyoko feel very empty, and left Odd alone with the new creature.

It continued its slow advance toward him, and Odd quickly became aware of the decreasing distance between the two from his focus on eliminating the other monsters. He slowly began to back up, unsure about what it was going to do.

It was Xanadu’s monster, so probably nothing good. 

He shakily shot an arrow at it, exhaustion messing with his aim. The jellyfish dodged, and continued to draw nearer. He bit his lip, and tried to shoot again.

It slapped his wrist, causing his arrow to spiral off into the distance. He shook his hand from the slap, and gave the creature an annoyed look. Panic was settling within him, however, because the feeling of being trapped was already a vice around his throat.

“Jeremie?” He called. He really, really hoped Jeremie was back. If he had deactivated the tower like he’d hope, there’s a chance Jeremie might be returning from the Xanadu attack. And maybe he’d know what this thing was, or at least how to get rid of it.

Silence answered him, and he realised he was truly alone. Shit.

He tried to shoot again, but it was at that moment he ran out of ammunition. An empty click echoed in the still air, and Odd realised all of his weapons had been neutralised. There was no way he could run away, his legs feeling like jelly, and he doubted his claws could do much damage.

He continued to back up, moving away faster, unsure of its intentions. It’s not really harming him, per ce, like the spectres that had been attacking him. It just followed him, and avoided his attacks. Was it a threat or not?

Suddenly, the tentacles lashed out. Odd yelled as it wrapped around him, and struggled as hard as he could. He was lifted into the air, and fear paralyzed him for a moment. What the hell?

“Let me go!” He shouted. Oh god, he couldn’t feel his arms. He couldn’t shoot. He’d been so stupid- of course this was going to try to kill him, it was a product of Xanadu. He tried to struggle, but realised his body was too numb and uncooperative to properly fight.

Before he could voice any of his vulgar complaints, two tentacles were raised toward his head, and his body became pricked with ice. He stiffened, sharp cold pins stabbing him in all areas and before he knew it, his consciousness was slipping before his eyes…

 

Yumi’s fan sliced through the air as she sprinted, the only sound in the air was her feet crunching against the digital grass and Ulrich’s steady breathing next to her. 

Odd had deactivated the tower, and after a frantic call from Jeremie, who had left his hiding place in the rainwater and had been about to launch a return to the past past, the two had raced as fast as possible from the play to the factory. 

Jeremie said there was something on Lyoko that was stealing Odd’s coding, and that he couldn’t launch a return to the past since he didn’t know what the consequences would be. He needed them to get there so they could provide back up to Odd. He sounded rather scared.

Her fan sliced through the two tentacles of the strange monster, resulting in a loud screech. The data flowing into the creature had suddenly ceased, and Yumi rushed forward. Odd free fell for a second before Yumi caught him, thankful he was so light.

“Odd? Odd, are you okay?”

She shook him slightly, and Ulrich remained on guard, drawing his sword in preparation for a fight. He watched as the jellyfish began to slither away, and if the monster had an expression, it would be described as looking miffed. He considered going after it, but it was already retreating.

Odd blearily blinked up at her before giving her a weak grin. “I’m feeling great. Did you make sushi out of that oversized jellyfish?”

“Yeah, I sure did.”

She set him down, and he seemed to bounce back rather well. Now that the tower had been deactivated, he no longer felt so exhausted like before. 

Ulrich gave him a slight once over, as if to check to see if he was alright, before saying, “Bring us in Jeremie. We’ve saved Odd’s ass yet again.”

Odd gave him an incredulous look. “Hey now, who deactivated the tower again? All by himself? Huh? Huh?”

“Oh stop bickering, you two,” Jeremie ordered, good humouredly . “I’ll bring you in momentarily so we can discuss whatever the hell just happened.”

 

Odd stumbled out of the scanner, taking a deep breath as he held onto the sides. Yumi and Ulrich glanced at him as they descended down the stairs, and all of them seemed to be nervous from all the events that had transpired.

They sat on the couch, Yumi and Ulrich huddled together on the beaten thing, and Odd sat on the arm. Jeremie still sat at the seat at the computer, and swivelled around to face the three teens.

“Okay,” Jeremie greeted, his hands folded in his lap, looking deep in thought as he glanced at the blond. “Odd, what happened while on Lyoko?”

“Well, after I’d defeated most of the spectres, this huge, jellyfish like monster sort of appeared out of nowhere. When it did, all the spectres stopped attacking me, and so I was able to defeat them all pretty easily, and deactivated the tower. But that jellyfish thing was still coming at me, so I tried to shoot it, and I ended up running out of arrows. Then it grabbed me and…” Odd tilted his head. “It’s gets a little blurry after that, but then Yumi and Ulrich show up and Yumi sort of defeats the monster.”

Yumi nodded. “All I did was slice the tentacles. I didn’t kill it though.”

“I know. This new monster has an immense amount of life points, so I’m not sure if you’ll ever be able to destroy it.” Jeremie rubbed his temple, clearly distraught at the thought of an invincible Xanadu monster.

“So, what exactly was it doing?” Odd asked. “Like, Xanadu’s a virus, so I’m not sure if it can just be into that kind of thing-“

“For the love of _god_ , don’t finish that thought.” Jeremie was not impressed with Odd’s implications, and let out a quiet sigh before answering the question. “I’m not entirely sure, but it seemed like it was trying to steal all of your data.”

“What do you mean?” Yumi raised an eyebrow.

“It was trying to steal all of your codes. All of them.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know. But when you transfer to Lyoko, your DNA and such become encrypted in binary coding. That’s why your body appears in Lyoko, and why you feel pain- because it’s your actual body, just in digital code. Xanadu attempted to steal your coding, and thus all of your DNA.”

“What if he had succeeded?”

There was a grim pause, and Odd knew he wouldn’t like the answer. “Likely, you’d have died. You need your code in order to remain alive on Lyoko.”

“But what does it want with me?” Odd kicked his legs, pressing himself against the arm of the couch. What made him so special? Sure, he was absolutely amazing and stunning in general, but why would Xanadu find him so interesting?

“I truly don’t know what he could possibly want with you,” Jeremie answered honestly. He unfolded his hands and leaned on the arm of his chair, his eyes sending an analytical gaze over Odd. He seemed deep in contemplation. “As far as I can tell, there’s nothing particularly significant within your data set to warrant him to attempt to steal all of it.”

But clearly there was.

Odd took a deep breath. “Have you guys ever seen that thing before? Or did Xanadu created a new monster specifically for me?” 

“No,” Yumi answered. “The only monsters we’ve ever seen are the spectres. To think that he can create monsters with definite shapes and with specific powers…”

“He’s getting increasingly strong,” Ulrich finally added. “He’s becoming too powerful.”

“It’s not impossible, however,” Jeremie interjected. “Clearly, creating monsters still require a lot of energy. There wasn’t as many spectres as there usually are this time around, so creating that jellyfish must have needed a large amount of energy, or else he’d still have the usual amount of spectres around.”

Odd nodded. “It’s true. There wasn’t that many spectres. While I’m sure I could’ve taken them all regardless, it was definitely noticeable that there wasn’t as many as before.”

Yumi sighed. “I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to last if Xanadu begins creating more, specific monsters.”

“All we can do is try,” Jeremie offered. “I’m sure we’ll be able to figure out something.”

“So I guess last times attack makes sense,” Odd muttered. “Why Xanadu stopped attacking me so I wouldn’t be permanently deleted.”

Ulrich frowned. “I suppose he does actually have plans for you.”

That did not settle well with Odd. He felt a pit of dread and fear form in the pit of his stomach, a queasy unease filling him to the brink. There was so many questions he had, so many answers he needed yet didn’t have.

“Well…” Jeremie could clearly sense the growing unease. “I think we ought to name it in case it becomes a regularity in the future. What should we call it?”

“They look a lot like jellyfishes,” Yumi supplied, happy to break the ice. “Blue creatures with tentacles…”

“It was the biggest jellyfish I’d ever seen,” Odd supplies, deja vu crawling under his skin. “I never thought the jellyfish would be the animal I’d be the most scared of.”

There was a pause as they all searched for a name. Odd realized at that moment why it all felt so familiar, his latest Future Flash having been long forgotten in the hysteria.

“How about Scyphozoa?” He offered slyly. Jeremie glanced at him.

“That’s exactly what I had considered suggesting,” he muttered. “What do you all think?”

“Sounds good.” Ulrich nodded at Yumi’s words. 

Jeremie sighed quietly. “Well, I suppose that if it’s all settled, we should probably launch a return to the past.”

“Yeah, there’s no way anyone’s going to just laugh off that gas attack.”

“Too soon.”

Odd winked. 

Jeremie rolled his eyes before turning to the computer. In a few swift strokes, the program had been typed up. “Return to the past now.”

White light washed over the trio, and the clocks began to turn backwards.

 

Odd sat on the stage, strumming the guitar absently. The play was about to start and this time around, Odd decided to go through with it. What did he have to lose, anyway?

He watched as the crowd filled with people. He spotted Yumi’s parents easily, and noticed how angry they seemed to be. He hoped it would work itself out.

It seemed that Yumi’s attempts to stay at the play during the attack were pointless after all; they had gotten erased by the return to the past. Odd was impressed with how loyal she was to her family. He wasn’t sure his siblings would do the same for him.

The play started, and Odd quickly began to strum the proper tunes. It wasn’t too hard to do, all things considered. It was the same melody over and over again, only changing a few times per act.

He listened to Ulrich be fed his lines by Yumi, and wondered not for the first time why Ulrich had been casted for the main lead. He supposed it was just the fact that no one liked acting, and Ulric was just the best available option.

Sissi appeared on stage, leaning against the poorly constructed balcony, and began to recite her lines. In all honesty, she wasn’t that bad of an actor. If Odd ever gets into the film club at the school, he might end up casting her for some future rolls…

The scene around him went blurry, and he quickly recognised what was happening. He internally swore as much as he could before the scene shifted to a dimly lit room.

He was in a house, that much was clear. It was the room of a young girl, the walls painted a soft pink, stuffed animals of all kinds lining the available surfaces, a pink quilt laying on the bed. 

It was, however, an eerie scene. The place had been abandoned for many years, vines growing in between the window screen, mold patches layering the walls, white sheets placed over some of the furniture, rooted floorboards creaking, tattered posters peeling from the wall just like the dulled paint, dust having settled over every inch of the area.

A woman sat at the desk, typing on a laptop with a sort of strange franticness. She was biting her lip, her keen eyes set on the screen, seemingly absorbed in her work.

 _“They’re at a play,”_ she muttered to herself. _“So they won’t likely notice I’m missing. I should have quite a bit of time left.”_

She checked her watch before beginning to type faster. A determined flint shone in her eyes. _“I’m going to finish what my father started, and that means I’m taking you down, Xanadu.”_

The scene blurred and bright lights blinded him. A crowd of people were staring at him, and he noticed a sort of hushed silence had fallen over the theatre. The only sound was Sissi’s voice carrying on, unyielding despite his likely blunder, and he could feel so many pairs of eyes set on him.

He had stopped playing in the middle of the scene. Damn it. 

He quickly picked back up, trying to figure out where in the play they were. He could feel Ulrich staring at him, and if he searched through the crowd, he’d find Jeremie’s watchful gaze on him. Yumi was backstage, likely unaware of had occurred.

He became lost in thought as the monotone of the song grew. As embarrassed as he was over his mistake, he couldn’t help but think about his Future Flash. It was the second time he’d seen that lady, and he was certain he knew her. But who was the person he kept seeing? Who was that women? Why was she in some children’s room? Was she important?

She knew about Xanadu. And her father created it, from what he understood. Franz Hopper’s daughter, perhaps?  
Delmas mentioned he’d had a ‘little girl’. It’s entirely feasible.

They needed to seek her out. If she was the daughter of Hopper, then she should have plenty of valuable insight on the virus. Maybe she could help them take him down, code some sort of anti-virus with Jeremie, and shut the virus down for good.

And maybe she’d know what was wrong with him…what in him attracted the virus’ attention….

He’d have to tell the others what he saw. Maybe they could make more sense out of it, or maybe not. But it was a lead they had to take as far as they could.

 

It was after the show, when he was packing up the borrowed guitar, did he feel a shoe graze past his shoulder. He let out a yelp and spun around to face an absolutely livid Sissi, still in her costume, missing a shoe. Her hands were placed on her hips, her face glowing red as she glared at him, her lone remaining shoe gripped tightly in her hand.

“You ruined my big scene!” She accused, her voice rising in volume.

“Huh?”

“You suddenly played the wrong notes during my big scene where I go ‘Romeo, Romeo’ and all that! You ruined it on purpose!”

Shit. He did more than just stop playing- he played the wrong chord when his hand froze. 

“I didn’t mean to-“

“Yeah, yeah! I’m so sure!” She crossed her arms. “You’ve joined them, haven’t you? You’re involved with it, right!”

She poised it like a question, but her tone seemed like she was making a statement rather than searching for an affirmation. Odd squinted at her, and feigned as much innocence as he could manage.

“What are you talking about?”

“You know damn well what I mean! I warned you on the first day of school that they were up to something, and instead of taking that warning, you joined them! You’re in on it!”

“Sissi, there’s nothing going on. I’m not in on some sort of conspiracy-“

“Oh really? How blind do you think I am? You keep sneaking away with them, the deja vu has been increasing, and now all four of you will come back with those mysterious bruises and injuries.” She shook her head. “You’re involved in some deep shit, Della Robbia. But I have a feeling you already know the consequences of joining the Belpois gang, hm?”

He did. Especially now. 

“Of course I don’t expect you to answer.” She huffed. “I don’t know what you guys are up to. But I know it’s nothing good, and I’m sure you do too. So maybe you should quit while you’re ahead.”

“I don’t understand what you want me to do,” Odd answered. Conflicting feelings were beginning to bubble up underneath him as he listened to her. “Abandon my friends?”

“You’ve known them for two weeks. Are they really your friends?”

“Of course.” He didn’t hesitate. “Sissi, just leave me alone, okay? I’m not in the mood for this.”

“I just don’t understand what they see in you,” she finally answered back. “They knew you for a day and then they let you in on whatever their dark secret is? But they aren’t fools. So maybe it’s not a case of what they’re hiding, it’s a case of what you’re hiding. So what are you hiding, Odd?”

“Sissi-“

“What are you, Odd?”

He froze. Because that’s exactly the question that’s been playing on loop throughout the performance. What was he? What made him so special? What could Xanadu want with him? What was he?

Sissi noticed she had struck something. “But really, what could you possibly see in them, either? What could have possibly drawn you to them? How could you look at a group of teens who are rumours to be in the occult and decide they were prime friend material? What are you?”

Odd remained dead silent. He couldn’t come up with a witty quip even if his life depended on it, because the question ‘what are you?’ continued to echo in his skull. 

“Just quit while you’re ahead,” she finally offered, clearly unsure how to take his silence. She gave him an almost pitiful look. “And maybe you’ll be able to live a normal life instead of constantly messing up in the big moments.”

She threw her other shoe at him, and he caught it in his hands. She gave him one last look, before walking away, annoyance and frustration clear on her face.

Odd sat there for a few moments, deep in thought. Sissi always seemed to know how to press his buttons and how to go to far. 

She knew too much, in all honesty. She was the only one who really seemed to suspect something was up, but that was enough to have the ability to start something…

He wondered why she was so stuck on Jeremie’s friend group. Why was it so important to her?

But he didn’t care much about that, at least for now.

Because she had come in, and forced him to question everything. All because of one question that she probably didn’t mean to have left so much of an impact with it.

What was he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meh.
> 
> Sissi has her motivations.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids discover the Hermitage through Jeremie's snooping.

He rubbed his eyes. He didn’t get much sleep last night. The past events over the course of the few weeks had been rather hectic, and the Scyphozoa attack only fueled more of his nightmares. 

The sleep he did get was marred with that strange dream that’s been plaguing him before he transferred to Kadic. He wasn’t sure if the Future Flash he had over his dream was actually a Future Flash gone haywire or if it meant Odd had been dreaming about the future before he had even been in the same country as the supercomputer. He should look into it, but at this moment he was afraid of the answer.

He shoved on a t-shirt, finished buckling his pants, and exited the room, trailing behind Ulrich as they moved to Jeremie’s room. The genius had called for a meeting early in the morning to discuss a discovery he had made last night. He supposed Jeremie decided it would be better to wait until morning than to barge into their rooms in the middle of the night.

He stifled a yawn as he waltzed into Jeremie’s room, Ulrich already taking his usual place against the wall, looking almost as tired as Odd felt. Yumi was already there, sitting on Jeremie’s unmade, messy bed, and Odd took a seat beside her, dangling his legs absently over the edge as he waited for the meeting to start.

“What’s up, Einstein?” he asked. 

Jeremie twisted in his chair, moving the laptop from the desk to his lap. “I’ve finally finished decoding the encrypted file I found on the supercomputer a while back.”

Yumi grinned. “Great! What was it?”

“It’s a list of numbers,” he began. “They create a set of coordinates that l assume houses something of importance.”

“Where?” Ulrich simply asked, curiosity shimmering in his eyes as he folded his arms.

“They’re at a train station north of here. They give a locker number to open as well. However, the file gave another list of coordinates, and I’m not entirely sure what is there.”

“Where else does it say to go?”

“A specific part of the forest near our school.” Jeremie pulled up a map and showed them. “It’s relatively near the manhole we use to get to the factory. I’m not sure what’s waiting for us out there.”

“If it’s at a train locker,” Yumi began thoughtfully. “Do you think a key is hidden away at that secondary location?”

“That’s what I had suspected and planned to confirm. So today, we’re going to head out to the forest and find whatever is there first before we go to the train station.”

Odd grinned. “Sounds like a date. I can’t wait.”

Jeremie nodded. “I’ll print off this map, pack up my laptop, and then we can be on our merry way.”

“Actually, we’ll be going to breakfast and then we can go.” Odd rubbed his stomach. “I haven’t eaten in eight hours. I’ll die if I have to wait too much longer.”

Ulrich rolled his eyes at his roommate's dramatics. “With how much you eat, I’m surprised you don’t have enough food stored away to last for years.”

“He’s clearly too thin for that to work,” Yumi giggled.

“Hey, don’t team up on me now! I gotta keep in good shape!”

Jeremie just smiled cheekily. “We’ll make a breakfast pit-stop so you can load up by eating the equivalent of a buffet.”

“You guys are so mean.”

 

Jeremie held the map in his hands, smoothed out the creases he had made from folding it, and then stared at it for a while. They were at the manhole and were waiting for Jeremie to give the directions to the possible location of the key. Although, Odd was fairly certain by this point that Jeremie doesn’t know how to read a map, considering how long it’s been since they stopped to check the rest of the route.

Odd absently kicked the dirt. The trek to the manhole was a lot more pleasant when you weren’t running for your life, he realized, as he glanced around at the wonderful foliage and fauna around them. You can’t stop and smell the roses when a virus is attempting to kill you.

“Um.” Jeremie glanced at Ulrich. “Do you know which way is north?”

Yumi sighed. “Does no one have a compass?”

There was a collective shake of heads from the boys. “Nope.”

Odd stared off for a moment, listening to the sounds around him. Jeremie began to pull out his phone, muttering under his breath, yet it was otherwise eerily quiet. No birds chirped no insects chatted. The entire forest felt dead, and he felt like they were the only people alive at that moment, the only signs of life in the entire universe.

He leaned against the tree, glancing around for wildlife. He never realized during any of his trips how still it was out here. The silence was oppressive, and he hated it.

The scene suddenly swirled around him momentarily, flashes of a dirt trail filling his vision, and he gladly took the distraction from his thoughts. His sight was soon filled with a large house that leered over him, clearly having been abandoned and left for the elements. A sign in front of it read “Hermitage”.

“The Hermitage,” he muttered absently, the stiffness in his bones not quite leaving him. Ulrich heard his whisper and glanced in his direction with a knowing look.

“Future Flash?”

“I know the way,” Odd simply answered, shooting Ulrich a wink. He rather enjoyed the looks of confusion on his friends' faces, always having been one for the dramatics. “Follow me, guys.”

Without waiting, Odd took off.

 

Crossing through the twisted bramble of the forest, they finally came across a dirt path after a few minutes of wandering through the woods under Odd’s guidance. They followed the unkept dirt road for a while, murmuring their suspicions about what laid ahead. Only Odd knew the answer and decided to leave it a mystery for his friends.

Finally, they reached the end of the clearing, and a tall house loomed above them in an uncanny, indescribable way that made Odd feel very small. It was in complete disarray, wild ivy climbing up the walls, dulled paint peeling off the sides, the windows boarded up, the wooden steps broken and splintered. It was clear that no one had lived here in a while….

“The Hermitage,” Jeremie muttered, staring at the sign before glancing back at the house. “Do you think this was where Franz Hopper lived before he disappeared?”

A silence passed between the group. Whatever had happened to the home had clearly happened a long time ago. It looked like the remnants of a break-in, with the windows smashed, glass still gleaming from under the wild and overgrown grass under the windows, and the door hanging ajar, looking ready to fall off its hinges.

Odd repressed a shudder as he stared at the boarded-up windows, his reflection twisted in the remaining broken pieces of glass which stared back at him. “Probably. Let’s check it out, yeah? The key or whatever is likely in here.”

Although Odd suggested it, he made no move to go inside. The place had a haunted energy to it, like it was a place that shouldn’t be disturbed despite the necessity of that action. He felt the creeps just looking at it, and he could only imagine what the inside would both look and feel like. 

After a few moments, Ulrich finally stepped up. He glanced at the others before climbing up the steps. Slowly, he pushed the door open, which moaned at being used after such a long period of inactivity. However, it was unlocked and allowed for an easy access to the interior. And so, the group entered.

It was as if a whirlwind had been caught inside the house. Tables were overturned, furniture moved in strange places, photographs smashed or left crooked on the walls, papers in disarray. The place looked as if it had been raided, and if Franz Hopper truly had been in some sort of criminal activity or government conspiracy, it likely had been.

“Let’s split up in pairs,” Jeremie suggested. “So we can cover more ground but we’ll still be keeping our guards up.”

“Ulrich and I can check this level,” Yumi offered, Ulrich nodding to her words. “Do you guys want to head upstairs?”

“Sure,” Odd agreed easily. “Sounds good.”

He followed Jeremie up the banister, a strange feeling pressing on his chest like a heavy weight. The stairs creaked and moaned under them, and Odd was slightly concerned that they’d end up breaking. Mold poured from cracks in the staircase and the walls were peeling, paint chips scraping off at the lightest of touches.

They reached the upstairs, and Odd began to take the lead, feeling drawn toward the back of the house like metal to a magnet. He moved down the hallway in an almost sluggish trance, paying no mind to any of the rooms except one, at the very end of the hallway. He could hear Jeremie behind him, probably wanting to question his motives and actions, but remained silent and simply followed Odd’s lead.

He pushed the door open, and was met with what seemed to be a young child’s room. The walls were painted a cheery pink that had dulled over time from the beating sun, with a hand-made matching quilt laying on the small bed in the corner. Small stuffed animals laid on the surface of the white dresser and the nightstand, and for some reason, he could feel each pair of black, beady eyes trained on him as he entered. Old, yellowed books filled the shelves of the small bookshelf in the corner, some having fallen to the floor and others had pages ripped out.

He instantly recognized the room from his Future Flash. The woman he suspected to be Franz Hopper’s daughter had stayed here, sitting at the very desk in front of him. 

He gravitated toward the desk at the thought of her. Fingerprints on the layers of desk confirmed his Future Flash, as well as the white sheet that had covered the desk chair having been placed on the back, the dust that should have covered it missing. It was strange to see the disturbance in the otherwise time-capsuled room.

“Didn’t Delmas mention to you and Ulrich that Hopper had a daughter?” Jeremie finally asked, glancing around the room with a sorrowful expression. The place was admittedly very pitiful, being the scattered remains of a once happy child's dwelling.

The thought made something sad swell within Odd.

“He did,” Odd confirmed. “What do you think happened to her?”

“A number of things. Taken in by a relative, if her mother is out of the picture, which I suspect. Or placed in the foster system.”

“Where do you think she is now?”

“Who knows? I suppose it depends on how involved she was in Hopper’s experiments and Lyoko. The either lack of knowledge or complete understanding of her father’s research would certainly influence many of her future decisions.”

Odd frowned, thinking of the woman at the computer, vowing to finish her father’s job. She was certainly influenced by her father, and clearly knew much about Lyoko and Xanadu. He wondered how much of her life revolved around her father’s works, and just how stuck she was in a past she couldn’t fix.

He drew toward the bed, glancing at a poster that was taped to the wall. There was something strange about it that he couldn’t explain, a familiar energy that didn’t match the usual deja vu of his Future Flash. He noticed a small hole poking out underneath it, barely the size of a dime, yet seemed as black an endless void. This would be an easy place to hide something- in a hole the wall behind a poster.

He suddenly tore down the poster in one quick, fluid motion, startling Jeremie as the sounds of paper being shredded filled the silence. Dust swirled through the air and the two blonds began to cough loudly as their lungs were filled with decades-old particles. 

Odd peeped in to look at the hole before shoving his hand inside and began to feel around. He pulled out something soft and squishy, like stuffed fabric, and glanced down at his treasure.

It was a doll. A little elf boy with a pink cap and black eyes that seemed to shine with a mischievous glint. Dolls couldn’t feel, but it still seemed as if it was staring into his soul. It remained in a rather great condition despite its abandonment, which only added to its devious vibe.

A long black cord was tied around his neck, and Odd noticed the glimmer of a silver key. He fingered the key for a moment, tracing the indentions as he soaked in the treasure. 

“Neat,” he finally said, glancing up at Jeremie, who had been hovering over his shoulder, wondering what Odd had been trying to do. 

“A key,” Jeremie muttered. He took the doll out of Odd’s hands, yet the eyes seemed to follow him. He flipped the key on the side and grinned softly. “Key number 903. It matches the train box the file had given us.”

“Awesome,” Odd stated, staring back at the doll. “Glad to put an end to the treasure hunt.”

“How did you know this was there?”

“I didn’t. I just kind of… followed my instincts, I guess.” He paused, glancing around the room for a few moments, before adding, “It feels like I’ve been here before.”

Jeremie gave him a funny look. “Really? Did you have a Future Flash about this place?”

“Yeah, but that’s not why it feels familiar.” There was a deja vu that came with having Future Flashes when the event he saw came true, but this was different. It was more of the deja vu he felt after a return to the past.”It’s… complicated.”

Jeremie nodded in understanding. “Isn’t everything? But in any case, I guess I’ll tell Ulrich and Yumi so we can meet them at the front door.”

“We’ll be checking out the train station next?”

“Absolutely.”

“What do you think is in there?”

Jeremie paused. “I’m not entirely sure. I assume it might be his notes regarding the creation of the supercomputer and Xanadu. That’s what I’m hoping for, at the very least.”

Odd nodded. “Makes sense. If he goes through all this to hide it, it’s gotta be pretty important. And if Xanadu is as dangerous as it was now…”

He trailed off absently. Jeremie seemed to get the picture and nodded in a slow and sad fashion. Odd wondered what sort of damage Xanadu may have caused in the past during its creation, what it couldn’t have done to Franz Hopper, and possibly his daughter.

He watched as Jeremie left the room, but he lingered behind. He stared at the room for a few moments, taking in the pitiful remains of Franz Hopper’s daughter. His thoughts came back to the lady at the desk.

If this had been her room…

He sighed and began to leave. What a terrible childhood.

 

They arrived at the station at a little after two. They had stopped back at the school for lunch, asked permission to leave under the guise of Odd looking for a souvenir from France, and began their trip to the train station.

It was an easy route in the metro and an even easier walk.

It had been slightly difficult getting the workers to let them get to the box as they seemed suspicious of them owning one, but they quickly relented since they had the key.

Jeremie fished the key out of his pocket. It was still bound to the black string, though Odd still had the elf itself in his pocket, and Jeremie checked the back of the key to make sure. They counted the boxes, glancing at the numbers in gold as they searched for 903.

They found it with relative ease, and Jeremie hesitantly placed the key in the lock. He glanced up at the others, a moment of silence passing through them as they shared weariness about opening the chamber. Odd nodded at him, expressing his support, and Jeremie took it.

The door opened with a soft click, and Jeremie glanced inside, the others hovering over his shoulder. It was a backpack.

Ulrich grabbed the backpack first and began to open it. CD cases overflowed from within the bag, and it seemed to be the only content within it. Odd didn’t know what they were or why they seemed to be so important. What could be in them that Franz Hopper was so paranoid of to make him create a treasure hunt?

Jeremie’s eyes lit up as he picked up one. He turned it to the back and found a label the read ‘diary’. “There’s so many disks… We found Franz Hopper’s diaries, guys.”

“Why is this a good thing?” Odd asked, confused. “What could be in these diaries that are so important?”

“Likely, it’s not the diary you’re thinking of. They are probably scientific journal entries he recorded and hid away for future use.”

Ah. That made sense. Jeremie was likely right.

Still, Odd wondered what would happen if he was wrong, and they turned out to just be disks full of menial observations and day-to-day tasks the man did like an actual diary. _Today, I folded the laundry. My daughter convinced me to play dress up and I painted her nails. Xanadu tried to slit my throat. My wife made some delicious jasmine tea._

Jeremie zipped up the bag and slung it over his shoulder. “I believe we’ve just hit a real goldmine, guys. Imagine how much knowledge we could gain about Xanadu from Franz Hopper!”

Yumi frowned. “Do you really think these disks will be that helpful?”

“Definitely. Franz Hopper had hidden them away for a reason, and I intend to uncover every little secret hidden within them.”

 

Not long after, they traveled back to the factory. Jeremie began to upload the files into the supercomputer, wanting to create digital copies in case something happened to the physical ones.

Lines of code appeared on a window, and Odd stared idly at the strange numbers that blinked in the dim lighting of the screen. Jeremie hummed softly before suddenly stopping, his cheery disposition falling quickly. 

“Drats. I knew this would happen, but damn.”

“Huh?” Yumi frowned at the blond genius. “What’s the problem?

“The data is heavily encrypted,” Jeremie muttered. “Even more so than how the file I found for the coordinates were, and are completely different sets of algorithms. This looks highly advanced just glancing at it, and it’s going to take me a while to decide it.”

“How long is ‘awhile’?”

“Not sure. Could be a few days, could be weeks. I guess we’ll just have to see.” He sighed. “If only I had someone who understood this junk. It’d be a lot easier to have someone to work with me…”

A light bulb went off in Odd’s head. The visions of that lady! He still hadn’t told them about her!

“Actually,” Odd interjected. “I might be able to help with that.”

“Odd, that’s great, but I’ve seen your scores in our computer science class and I’m not sure how much help you’ll actually be.”

“Harsh, but I wasn’t talking about myself.” Odd grinned at their confused expressions. “I think I’ve been having Future Flashes about Franz Hopper’s daughter.”

He explained his two Future Flashes and watched as alarmed expressions slowly grew on their faces. “I’m pretty sure she’s a teacher here. She was in a classroom in my first Future Flash and mentioned that everyone was away at a play on the day we performed that Romeo and Juliet play. It would also explain why she seemed to have an immunity to the return to the past.”

Jeremie rubbed his eyes, his glasses moving up and down on his face. “Odd, I can’t believe this… she’s really Hopper’s daughter?”

“It matches up.” Ulrich was staring directly at Odd, and the shorter blond wasn’t sure how to feel under his heavy gaze. There was something unreadable in his eyes that set an uneasy feeling rolling through Odd’s body. “Delmas mentioned Hopper had a wife and a little girl.”

“And if she knows about Xanadu, it makes sense that she’d follow in her father’s footsteps to destroy that virus.” Yumi gave a thoughtful look. “But who is she? There’s no teacher at our school with the last name ‘Hopper’?”

“Do you know what she looks like?” Jeremie’s eager eyes were trained on Odd. “Can you give a description?”

“Not really?” Odd struggled to think of the woman’s face, of any sort of useful details. The lights had been too dim in the last one, and her face was obscured by the light coming through the window, except for her eyes and the lentgh of her hair. “I think she has really short hair.”

“That’s all?”

“It’s kind of blurry. All my Future Flashes aren’t in great detail, and those were a bit foggier than the rest. I can recognize you guys in it because I know who to look for.”

Jeremie rubbed his forehead. “Well, it’s likely that she’s a science teacher, considering her aspiration to defeat Xanadu.”

“And if she’s truly wanting to follow in her father’s footsteps, she might be the computer science teacher,” Yumi suggested.

Something clicked inside Odd’s head. “Miss Schaeffer?”

“You think she’s Franz Hopper’s daughter?” Jeremie frowned. “She’s not my first candidate, but I suppose the timeline fits. She’s very young, is new here, and is rather suspiciously airheaded.”

“I wonder about her last name,” Yumi murmured. “And isn’t she from Canada?”

“Maybe she took her mother’s name? Maybe she moved in with some relatives from Canada? Or maybe she has some reasons on why she changed her backstory.”

“Maybe.” Jeremie glanced at Odd. “Do you think it’s her? You had the Future Flash.”

He frowned, scrunching his brows in concentration. It made sense. And now that he thought about it, those piercing green eyes seemed familiar after all…. “It’s her.”

“Really?”

“Aelita Schaeffer is Franz Hopper’s daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aelita? Being relevant? It's more likely than you think (or not...)


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiit goes down, Jeremie gets beat up, and a trip to Lyoko is made.

Odd impatiently stood at the door to Miss Schaefer’s classroom. It was a Sunday, so they didn’t have any classes with her, but it was imperative that they speak with her as soon as possible after figuring out her true identity.

Jeremie stood next to him, looking as anxious as Odd felt. Ulrich was off doing Pencak Silat practice with Yumi in the courtyard, since they liked to keep their routine in case she wasn’t available.

“What are you kids doing here?” A voice thundered, and Odd swiveled to find Jim standing behind them, hands crossed over his chest as he gazed at them in suspicion. 

“I wanted to talk to Miss Schaeffer,” Odd cheerfully answered. “Do you know where I could find her?”

“She’s only a day teacher, so she doesn’t live here, and likely isn’t even on campus. She’s probably back at her house, enjoying her day off.”

Odd frowned. “Of course. Thanks Jim.”

“Why do you need to talk to her?”

“I don’t understand a lesson we had yesterday.”

“And Belpois can’t help you because…?”

“I tried to explain it to him,” Jeremie offered, and Odd was surprised to see how easy it was for Jeremie to lie to Jim. “But he still doesn’t understand.”

“Hm. Well, computers and all those gizmos can be tricky. Stay out of trouble.” He walked off, and Odd turned to face Jeremie.

“Well, there goes our plans for the day. What do we do now?”

“I’m not entirely sure. I’ll be working on decoding those diaries, but I really would have liked Schaeffer’s help…”

Odd frowned. “I guess I could explore the Hermitage… who knows what else Hopper has hidden away in there.”

Jeremie hesitated. “I’m not sure you should be going alone…”

“What? Why?”

“Xanadu seemed to want something from your codes, and aim not sure if he’ll try to target you. You better take Yumi or Ulrich with you.”

Odd paused. Jeremie did have a point, of course, but Odd did not like the idea of having to depend on bodyguards to just walk around a house. “Oh come on, Jeremie. They’re basically on a date. I can’t interrupt them now. Besides, I’ll be back before you know it.”

His phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket, and before Jeremie could add in his two cents, Odd fished it out and read the text. “Oh sweet! I just scored a date with this girl I’ve been texting.”

Jeremie raised an eyebrow. “So you won’t be going to the Hermitage?”

“Well, not now.” A new message came in, and Odd skimmed it. “She wants to meet up in two hours, near the forest. I can’t believe it! I’ve been dying to go on a date with Emily.”

Jeremie didn’t look convinced. “Near the forest? That’s kind of suspicious, isn’t it?”

“Not really? I think it’s pretty romantic that she wants to be mysterious.”

“Alright, just… be careful…”

“Of course!”

 

Odd and Ulrich walked side-by-side through the hallway, heading toward their dorms. Ulrich had finished his practice with Yumi, who was now waiting for a friend of hers to go watch a movie with. 

Odd managed to strike up a conversation with Ulrich, although it quickly led to the two of them bickering. Odd wasn’t entirely surprised that they’d have different tastes, but it was amusing to rile up his roommate.

“Oh come on Odd, the new Hospital of Horrors episode sucked.”

“You have no appreciation for the arts and frankly, your taste is terrible and untrustworthy.”

Ulrich pursed his lips at his insult. “My tastes are better than yours. Have you seen the clothes that you’re wearing? Or your hair?”

“It’s called fashion Ulrich.” They began to head toward the stairs, Odd dramatically waving his arms as he spoke. “But I suppose you’ve never heard of it, so I can’t blame you for not understanding.”

“What’s that mean?!”

“Green on green is so tasteless and tacky, Ulrich!”

“And purple on purple is okay?” He asked, his tone expressing an amused yet agitated tone only he could manage to produce. The boy didn’t respond, and Ulrich frowned.

Suddenly, Odd’s body stiffened, his hair raising in the back of his neck. 

What terrible timing for a Future Flash.

The scene swirled around him as the stairs underneath him disappeared. He was standing on the dirt path in the forest, his hands placed on his hips, his hands clenching the phone in his hand.

He glanced around him, frowning. _“Emily?”_

The bushes rustled, and Odd paid them no mind. Must be the wind.

_“Emily?_

Blackness filled his vision as the haze of a Future Flash lifted, and Odd became very aware of his face being pressed up against the soft fabric of a t-shirt and two arms holding him steady. He snapped his head out of the chest he was pressed against as he realised he was no longer falling to his untimely death on the stairs.

“Are you okay?” A voice asked, strangely familiar but Odd couldn’t place it.  
He glanced up, finding a boy who was ridiculously taller than him with raven hair staring down at him, looking concerned. 

“Huh?” He felt his cheeks flush involuntarily.

“You fell down the stairs and I caught you. What happened?”

He noticed Ulrich was behind him, grimacing, and he could hear him sucking in his breath. Cover story...

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, that happens sometimes.” Odd slowly removed himself from the boy's arms, and seeing what he was doing, the raven-haired boy quickly let go, albeit hesitantly so. “I have a really high metabolism, so sometimes if I don't eat enough I’ll faint.”

It wasn’t really a lie. He did have a high metabolism and that had happened a few times before if he wasn’t careful. His friends laughed at him for eating too much, but hey, he actually had a good reason.

The boy looked worried. “Are you okay? Do you need something to eat right now? I’ve got, like, a granola bar in my bag or we could go to the vending machine-“

“No no! I’m fine!” Odd smirked. “Can’t believe I fell for you and you’re already offering to take me out for a meal.”

Ulrich snorted in the background, and the raven-haired boy laughed. “What’s your name? Can’t go on a date with someone I don’t know.”

“Fair. I’m Odd Della Robbia. You?”

“William Dunbar.”

Odd paused. Deja vu flooded through his head as he stared at the boy. “I feel like I’ve met you before.”

William gave a toothy smirk before beginning to move away. “Strange enough, I feel the same way. See you later, Della Robbia; I’m meeting up with a friend for the movies.”

Odd watched as he retreated, staring at the boy’s back as a soft flush formed. God, he’d been cradled in that boy's arms.

Ulrich slide into Odd’s peripheral, standing next to him as they stood together for a moment. Ulrich’s face was twisted into a quiet disgruntlement and disdain.

“Something up?” Odd asked, noticing his friend’s displeasure.

“I don’t like Dunbar much,” he answered bluntly. “Something about him has always rubbed me the wrong way.”

“Really? He seems so nice.”

“There’s just something inherently distrustful in him.” Ulrich sighed. “I know Yumi likes him a lot though, but I still think you should avoid flirting with him, or whatever it was you just did, alright? Besides, don’t you have a date to get ready for, anyway?”

Odd grinned brightly. “Right! Gotta dress to impress!”

 

Odd began his trek through the woods, following the small dirt path. Emily had given him instructions on where exactly to meet up at, and Odd made sure he was following them thoroughly.

The forest was still eerily silent, and Odd shivered slightly from the haunting quality the stillness of the air contained. He rather wished he was running to the factory; he never did noticed the silence when he was focused on saving the world.

He found the first four-way road on the dirt path, and stopped. He glanced around, hoping Emily would come soon. He didn’t like being in the silent woods all alone, and while he’d never admit to being scared, he was a bit nervous.

A twig snapped in the near distance, and Odd perked up. The sounds of leaves crunching soon followed, and Odd checked the time on his phone before calling out, “Emily?”

The bushes rustled and Odd clenched the phone in his hand, eagerly anticipating the arrival of his date. He listened to the sound of leaves crunching in the opposite direction from where they first came from, and he turned around, frowning. That’s weird.

“Emily?” he tried again, not quite as confident.

The inky shadows around him seemed to grow larger, and before Odd knew it, the crunching of leaves had stopped.

His phone fell to the ground as his vision slipped into a blackness that matched the shadows.

 

Jeremie sat in his chair, typing madly at the supercomputer. The files of Franz Hopper’s diary were opened, and he was beginning to feel frustrated. He wasn’t making any headway into decoding his encryption, and he was beginning to feel disheartened.

In the back of his hind, he wondered if Miss Schaeffer would know the encryptions. He hoped she was able to break the codes, but from Odd’s description her knowledge about her father’s activités seems rather small.

Surely, if she was hunting down Xanadu, she put to know where it was located? And she’s know where the diaries were too? He wondered about the extent of her knowledge.

A soft humming reached his ears as he contemplated his teacher. He recognised his he tune as the mechanical lit of the elevator, and frowned as glanced from his computer to the doors. His laptop suddenly began to sound the alarm, and Jeremie saw the pop up warning of a Xanadu attack.

The doors began to open, and Jeremie grabbed his phone, typing as fast as he could to Yumi and Ulrich. In case this was a Xanadu attack, he needed his friend to hurry. 

Jeremie was suddenly face to face with a girl he had met a few times in the hall. Emily, he remembered, though as the symbol of Xanadu flashed in her eyes, he knew it wasn’t quite Emily.

Odd was being carried in her arms, his head lolling against the side against her chest. He was clearly unconscious, and Jeremie could easily see a large cut across his forehead along with a purple bruise.

“Hey!” He yelled, although the spectres attention was already on him. “Put him down!”

Spectres never spoke. He often wondered if they possessed the ability to and just decided against it, or if they were unable to form coherent enough thought to put to words. Or did they simply not understand how the human body functions enough to be able to speak?

The spectre set Odd down, though likely not because Jeremie ordered it to do so, and the ruffled blond limply sat on the ground. It was unnerving to see how silent he was; the boy could hardly go five minutes without aimlessly chattering to fill the air.

Electricity crackled on Emily’s fingertips, and Jeremie cursed silently as she leapt toward him. He hated fighting possessed Xanadu puppets; it was never a fair match.

He dodged and moved back, trying to keep his distance. She didn’t even pause as she spun back around to send a punch to his face, her supernatural reflexes kicking faster than his average ones.

He stumbled backwards but dodged a kick to the chest as he ducked. He felt her hand grab his hair, and yelled as she pulled his head up, yanking on his hairs. She slammed his head into the nearby wall, and a soft ringing filled his head as he clawed at her arm, trying to get her to let go.

He kicked her knee, struggling against her hold, and she lost her grip. He immediately tried to punch her again, hoping to god that Yumi and Ulrich would be here soon. He was not doing so hot.

She dodged, and sparks flew as she grabbed his wrist. Electricity jumped across his arms and he screamed as he was electrocuted. His vision began to blur and the only thing he could properly make out was her sickening smile, lips stretched just a bit too far to be natural.

She let go, and he slumped against the wall, collapsing as his knees gave out. She gave him a swift kick to the ribs, and he gave a soft cry out in pain before diverting her attention to the supercomputer. Successfully having gotten rid of the obstacle, she moved away from Jeremie’s swimming vision and sat in the chair, activating the virtualization protocol.

Jeremie let out a moan as he watched her pick Odd back up. He grabbed at the ground, trying to get back up, but instead felt his hand go numb. 

“Jeremie,” he heard, Odd’s eyes blearily looking at him, his voice barely a whisper. The crackle of electricity filled the air, and Jeremie could only watch as the spectre made its way up the stairs, Odd limp in her arms.

Shit.

 

Ulrich and Yumi jumped from the factory ledge, their hands rubbing against the rope as they slide to the ground. They were a few minutes too late, so it seemed; they found Jeremie lying on the ground, his hair a frizzy mess, and blood dripping from the side of his head.

Yumi hesitated before moving to the supercomputer. She’d only had to virtualise her self once before, and was fearful that she’d mess up the process.

Ulrich placed his hand on her shoulder, and she took his silent support. She began to type in as quickly as she could the code for virtualisation, and watched as the countdown popped up. She noticed Odd’s avatar was already available, and was beginning to fear the worst as they climbed up the stairs.

She desperately hoped they weren’t too late.

 

Seconds later, the duo landed in the ground. They brushed themselves off and Yumi pointed in a specific direction.

“The tower is over there, south of us. I’m not sure where Odd is- I wasn’t able to track his location, so I’m just hoping he’s near the tower.”

Yumi hoped that Jeremie had transferred him to Lyoko, but found it highly unlikely Odd was here of his own will or of Jeremie’s doing.

Ulrich gave a small nod. “Let’s hurry.”

They sprinted across the grassy plain, watching out for stray spectres, and any signs of the Scyphozoa. Fear lingered in the backs of their minds as they sprinted, and they shared an anxious glance before looking back toward the horizon.

The tower gleamed in the artificial sun, a red glow surrounding the top of the building. Spectres buzzed around the towers, a black mass seeming the area, and the two were disappointed to find that their friend wa snot in the proximity.

Yumi paused. “Let’s split up. I’ll stay here and fight off the spectres, while you search for Odd.”

Ulrich wordlessly nodded, and began to sprint away from her. She watched as he became a yellow streak, before diving into battle, pulling out her fans and yelling as she tossed them.

Ulrich wasn’t entirely sure where to go. There was a whole island Odd could be hidden on, and Ulrich didn’t know where to start looking.

So he just decided to move straight. There’s not much else he could do.

He slashed through spectres as he ran, trying to minimize the targets for Yumi as he began to leave the scene. He stabbed a spectre and watched as it disappeared in a wave of codes before glancing around at the forest.

A screech filled his ears and he took off in the direction of the animal. He remembered the Scyphozoa making that same noise when Yumi had sliced it’s tentacles. 

He skidded to a stop in time to find the jellyfish holding his friend hostage for a second time. He sprinted toward the Scyphozoa and began to jump toward it when a spectre struck him in the shoulder. 

He crashed into the ground, grimacing as his head reeled from the hit. He twirled his sword as he got up, and watched as the spectre came toward him again. He dodged just in time, striking the spectre with his sword and killing it in one hit.

He quickly noticed that he was beginning to become surrounded. Some of the spectres had followed him and were attempting to devirtualize him before he could save his friend. 

He glanced at his friend and watched as a spectre came hurtling toward him. He jumped on its back before leapfrogging onto a different spectres back to take it out. He hopped onto a different one and stabbed it, before jumping back to the ground.

Another spectre came crashing toward him, and he hired out his foot, kicking it as hard as he could, his reflexes from soccer practice finally coming in handy. The spectre hit the Scyphozoa head on, and it’s grip on Odd slipped.

The distraction was enough for Ulrich. He leapt over another spectre and raced toward the jellyfish, drawing his sword.

In one fluid motion, he sliced the blue limbs in half, grinning slightly as the Scyphozoa let out a screech reminiscent of a wounded animal. He grabbed Odd before he could crash into the ground, and landed perfectly with the blond in his arms, watching as the Scyphozoa eyed them.

There was a small staring contest between the two, as if the jellyfish was sizing him up. He held his ground, and the creature slowly began to move away, slithering off the platform. 

Ulrich blinked, and raced over.

The Scyphozoa has disappeared into the Digital Sea. That must be where it lived; dwelling in the sea that permanently deleted them if they touched it.

“Oh shit,” came a moan. “My head is killing me, man.”

Ulrich grinned at his roommate. “At least you’re alive.”

“The famous Stern optimism.” Ulrich set the boy down. “This is beginning to become a pattern of you guys saving me and I’m not sure I’m a fan. What happened?”

“Not sure, you’ll have to ask Jeremie. But the Scyphozoa attacked you.”

“What a headache.” Odd glanced at the distance, noticing the red tower. “Ah. Let’s go!”

Ulrich watched as he took off, sprinting on all fours as his daredevil tendency to pick a fight pulled through. That boy was strangely resilient; always willing t œil Keith the punches, despite this only being the second occurrence. He paused for a moment, gave an uneasy look at the Digital Sea, before running after his friend.

He wondered what else was hidden in that ocean.

They arrived in the heat of the battle. Yumi had been holding her own fairly well, having taken out a large chunk of the spectres in a short time, and Ulrich grinned at how badass his partner was.

He sliced one of the spectres that barreled toward him, before gracefully twirling to slice another right behind him. He twirled his sabre in his hands for a moment, taunting the creatures and giving them a small smirk.

Odd was carefully taking aim, slightly shaken from what had happened with the Scyphozoa and from whatever damage Xanadu had done to him before the trip to Lyoko. He shot two spectres, and hesitantly glanced around.

He’d been hit already while fighting. It wasn’t a start he was optimistic over, especially after being rushed into a battle he’d only just learned of.

The silence from Jeremie was discontenting, and his stomach flipped as he jumped onto the back of one of the spectres, digging his claws into is back. He had a vague memory of Jeremie lying on the factory ground, propped up by the wall, blood dribbling down the side of his face. 

He flipped off the spectre and shot more of the other creatures underneath him, using the aerial advantage as well as he could. He landed, and a stiffness filled his limbs.

Jeremie was wiping his mouth, blood smeared on the color of his sweater and his fist. His other hand held a bent metal pipe, and he was staring down a girl with long hair and glasses.

Emily gave him a cheeky grin and shot a ball of electricity at him. Jeremie rolled to the side, panting as he dodged. She continued to shoot off more lightning, and Jeremie did his best to dodge, though one stung his side, singeing his pant leg.

_“I hope they hurry,” he murmured as he swung with his baton._

Odd was suddenly on the ground, but he hadn’t been hit by a spectre. Yumi had pushed him to the ground, and threw a fan at a spectre that had tried to hit him. It sliced the creature in half, and caused it to fritz out into red codes.

“Thanks Yumi!” He called, and shot a spectre that had began to creep up on her. She got off of him and winked before cartwheeling away, dodging a swirling spectre that aimed for her head.

He shot a few more that moved into his sights. They needed to hurry; he wasn’t sure how long Jeremie would last against Emily.

He sprinted up the length of the tower, moving to the very top. The spectres began to follow him, and Ofd watched as they flew their way to the top to catch himz

He jumped off, landing on the back of one of the creatures, and began to shoot the spectres above him as they tried to nail a hit on him. He grinned as they all exploded into codes, and shot the back of the spectre he was riding.

As he free fell into the air, something tackled his side. He was pushed into the ground, his rib cage feeling an enormous pressure on it as dirt filled his senses. 

Shit.

He quickly got back up, not wanting to waste time, but that familiar numbness filled his limbs as he pushed himself up.

The scene changed to an apartment flat, the lights dimmed. Aelita Schaeffer was sitting on her bed, her laptop placed on her lap, her fingers flying as she stared at the screen.

_“Where could that damn supercomputer be? And who the hell activated it? Could it be them? They’re on my trail and close to discovering me; it’s possible that they figured it out before myself…”_

She frowned. _“No. It’s not likely. They already know where it is. Why would they turn it on when they had shut it down in the first place?”_

She cracked her knuckles. _“Those kids in my first class… they could have done it. They never do act the same when a return to the past has been called. Those three may be involved…”_

She closed her eyes. _“But I hope to god they’re not.”_

He felt his head burst into pain as he found himself back on the ground, his brain rattling in his skull. A large spectre had landed a nasty hit on the back of his head, and his neck felt like it had been knocked out of place.

He pushed himself back up, cursed his Future Flash power, and shot the spectre he suspected had hit him. There wasn’t very many left; in fact, they seemed to be congested around Yumi, who was currently doin ya fantastic job of taking them out.

He shot off a few more rounds, watching as he hit his targets with better accuracy than usual. He had a feeling he had been slowly improving through these trips.

The area he’d been tasked with clearing was free of any visible monsters. He glanced over at Ulrich, who was sheathing his sword. Yumi finished off the last spectre with her fan, and he watched as the tower went from red to a soft white.

“Jeremie’s going to need to issue a return to the past,” Ylrich said, racing toward him. “But I don’t know if we’ll be able to get the message to him from here.”

“One of us should go back to tell him,” Yumi suggested. “Who has the least amount of life points? I’m fairly certain I got hit once.”

“Twice.”

“Three times,” Odd grumbled. “Hit me with your best shots.”

Ulrich pulled out his sword and gave him a hesitant look. Odd waved his hand and Ulrich swiped his sword through his torso.

Being cut in half did _not_ feel good at all.

He groaned softly, before his body blinked out of existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh. Feels like too much happened but whatever.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang learns a bit more about their computer science teacher and Lyoko.

Odd stumbled out of the scanner, taking a deep breath. His stomach aches from where Ulrich had stabbed him, and the phantom pain made him breathless.

He bounded down the stairs, worried about his friend and his date. He hoped there wasn’t too much damage done.

Jeremie was lying on the ground next to the chair to the supercomputer. Odd crouched next to him, and hesitantly felt for a pulse. It wasn’t strong, but it was there.

Blood was matted into his hair, and he could see a few bruises over his body. He was relatively okay, however.

He glanced over, and noticed Emily was lying on the ground as well. He supposed she must have been knocked unconscious when they deactivated the tower.

He sat down at the supercomputer and put on the headset. “Yumi? Ulrich?”

“We hear you Odd. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, but Jeremie’s pretty knocked out at the moment. Do any of you know how to do that return to the past thingy he does?”

There was a collective silence. “No.”

Odd hummed. “I figured.”

He glanced over at Jeremie. Bending down, he hesitated, before raising his hand and slapping him. A loud smack resonated through the area, and Odd winced. Ouch.

He didn’t stir, so Odd repeated the action. He was about to do it a third time when Jeremie’s eyes popped open.

“Shit!” He muttered, bringing a hand up to touch his cheek. “What the hell, Odd?”

“Just launch the return to the past, alright?” Odd shrugged. “Emily might be waking up soon since we deactivated the tower.”

Jeremie began to stand up and leaned over the keyboard. Odd watched as Jeremie’s fingers flew over the keys before giving Odd a sideways glance.

“Return to the past now!”

 

Odd rubbed his head as he sat down at the lunch table. Although the return to the past had healed any injuries Xanadu had given him, they still left ghost pains that made his skin crawl.

It had been hours ago since the attack, yet those phantom pains still lingered.

“How did your date with Emily go?” Yumi asked, grinning at him as he sat down.

“Eh. It was alright. We went to the movies and she cried. She wasn’t much of a talker though, so I don’t think we’re going anywhere since she didn’t seem to want to hold a conversation with me.” He shrugged as he took a bite of his sandwich. “And that Xanadu attack did not really make me want to date her, no matter how hot she is.”

Yumi rolled her eyes. Jeremie smirked as he looked back to the book he was reading, and Ulrich remained silent.

Odd’s eyes began to travel, and he found himself staring at the back of a tall, raven-haired boy. He watched William for a while, as he moved through the lunch line, and an indescribable feeling passed through him.

Odd was staring blankly in the distance, a strange look on his face. Yumi noticed and frowned, wondering why he was so quiet. Usually, during lunch, Odd would be taking up any chance to smooch food from the rest of the group.

Her eyes followed Odd’s gaze and landed on someone she wasn’t quite expecting. “Odd, do you know William?”

Odd blinked. “Huh? Yeah. Well, sort of.”

“Odd had a Future Flash while we were on the stairs, and William caught him when he fell and held him in his arms. You should’ve seen Odd’s face.” Ulrich sniggered and Odd sharply sent an elbow into his side.

“You like him?” Yumi asked, surprised. William just didn’t seem like Odd’s type, but she supposed they were both romantics, so maybe it did fit.

“Pretty boy’s cute and all, but that’s not why I’m staring at him.” Odd’s loose grin puckered into a frown. “He Just seems... really familiar.”

“You’ve said that to us before,” Jeremie offhandedly mentioned, looking up from a book he was reading. He glanced curiously at Odd. “You’ve once remarked that we all seemed familiar to you, like we’ve already met.”

“Because you do.” Odd tapped his fingers on the table. “I don’t really get why I feel this way. But whenever we hang out or do something, sometimes I get really bad deja vu. And I had deja vu when I bumped into William.”

Jeremie hummed. “Maybe your Future Flash is scrambling your brain's ability to differentiate between what’s happened and what is happening.”

Odd gave a thoughtful look. “Maybe. And if that’s the case, I’m really starting to hate this thing.”

Yumi laughed. “I would be too if I can’t tell the difference between the past and present. But William’s a good friend of mine; I think you guys could really hit it off.”

Ulrich scrunched up his face. “I still think you should stay away from him.”

“Yes, yes,” Jeremie said, rolling his eyes. “We know all about your rivalry with him and how much you hate him.”

“I don’t hate him,” Ulrich argued. “I just don’t trust him.”

“You know,” Yumi said thoughtfully. “We considered bringing him into this group a while back.”

“Really?” Odd blinked. They all must be very close friends with him, except for Ulrich. If they liked him enough to consider recruiting him, then he must be pretty decent.

“Yeah. Ulrich didn’t want him involved, however, so we were going to use him as a back up plan in case we couldn’t find anyone else.” 

“So you’d let me going, a person who you knew for a day, instead of this guy?”

Jeremie paused. “Well, you were kind of an…”

“Accident.” Odd shrugged. “I see. But maybe we should let him. After all, Xanadu keeps trying to come after me, so I may be kind of a hindrance instead of any help.”

Ulrich bit his lip. “We’ll see.”

Odd frowned and glanced at Jeremie. “Speaking of that overgrown jellyfish, I still don’t understand what it wants from me.”

Jeremie paused. “I’m not entirely certain either. It’s seems to be going after your DNA, but I can’t understand why.”

“Do you think Miss Schaeffer would be able to solve that?” Yumi tilted her head. 

“It really depends on how much she knows and understands about Lyoko. If she can comprehend the mechanics of Lyoko and possibly some of her father’s information, it may be possible that she can find a why.”

“I wonder what she does in her free time…”

“She codes.” Without skipping a beat, his friends turned to stare at him. “I had a Future Flash about her.”

“What was in it?”

“She suspects that we were involved in the supercomputer, and that ‘they’ are after her.”

“‘They’?”

Odd shrugged. “I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but it sounds like she’s deep in a conspiracy.”

“The government?” Jeremie muttered. “Maybe they’re after her…”

“If she’s trying to mess with her father’s work, it’s likely.” Ulrich frowned. “But she suspects that we’re involved?”

“Yep. She said that the three students in her class seem to act different after the return to the past.”

“Of course she’d notice. She’s the only other person immune to the return to the past feature. It would be strange to us if Sissi suddenly acted differently when we launched the program; how could she not notice?”

“Plus all of us cutting class,” Yumi added. “That’s got to be suspicious.”

Odd propped his head on his hands, leaning on the table. “But there’s four of us? Why does she only suspect three students?”

“She probably doesn’t realise you’re apart of our group,” Ulrich stated, and Jeremie nodded.

“It’s true. She probably just doesn’t suspect your involvement, considering your late enternace into the group.”

Odd hummed. “Weird. We have class with her tomorrow, so we’ll all talk to her together, right?”

Jeremie hesitated. “There are some tests I was hoping to run tomorrow. I think I may have found another file hidden in the supercomputer.”

“How are the diaries coming?”

“Now very well.” Jeremie rubbed his temple. “It fact, I haven’t made much progress. I can’t understand the pattern in Hopper’s encryption at all. It’s a jumbled mess. I need some sort of key in order to read it, but I haven’t been able to create one.”

Odd frowned. “Hopper sure knows what he’s doing, huh?”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from the genius who create the machine.” Jeremie shook his head. “But it does make everything a lot harder.”

“Go figure. The information is in our hands, but we can’t even access it.”

“My hopesis that Miss Schaeffer will be of help, but her level of involvement in Xanadu is unknown.” Jeremie sighed. “But I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow, yes?” 

“I suppose.”

 

It was early in the morning, and Odd watched as the rest of the students filed out of the classroom. Ulrich was standing next to him, watching the group as well, while Jeremie was hiding in the factory coding away, and Yumi was likely in her chemistry class.

Miss Schaeffer was shuffling some papers as they approached her desk, her focus solely set on the pile. Odd cleared his throat, which startled her into dropping the papers.

“Sorry, sorry,” she muttered as she began to frantically pick them up. “I didn’t think anyone was left.”

“It’s fine,” Odd offered, bending down to help her collect the papers. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

After a moment, they collected all of them, and the lady leaned on the desk, giving them a suspicious look. “So, what do you kids need?”

“Does the name Xanadu mean anything to you?”

Without skipping a beat, she answered casually, ”Sounds familiar. Is it a video game?”

“We know your father is Franz Hopper, and that he built the supercomputer which also holds Xanadu.” Ulrich certainly wasn’t taking her bullshit.

She stared at them for a moment, her green eyes sharper than a knife. With an analytical sweep of her eyes, she made up her mind, her eyes lingering in Odd for a moment longer than necessary.

“Franz Hopper is a name I certainly haven’t heard in a long time.” She folded her hands and took a seat in her chair, sighing. “I suppose my hypothesis was correct. You, Belpois, and Ishiyama started the supercomputer back up, didn’t you?”

She had directed her attention completely to Ulrich, ignoring Odd. “Yes.”

“God…” she rubbed her eyes. “I’d been afraid that it was you three. How long has this been going on?”

“Over two months.”

“Who started the supercomputer?”

“Jeremie. He was looking for robot parts and found the supercomputer. He turned it on, and was attacked by his previously created robots which had been possessed by Xanadu. Yumi and I saved him, and he told us everything. Eventually, we took a trip to Lyoko-“

“Lyoko?”

“That’s what we call the virtual world to seperate Xanadu into the virus and the land. Odd came up with the idea.”

“I see. And when did you begin to use the return to the past?”

“A few weeks ago, no more than a month.”

She nodded. Her keen eyes turned to Odd, and he suddenly felt naked under her watchful eyes. The usual aloof demeanour she held herself with was gone, acute intelligence taking its place. In the back of his mind, he was reminded of the picture of Franz Hopper, who held himself with an air of intelligence none of the other teachers could match.

“I knew Ishiyama, Belpois, and Stern were involved, but I didn’t account for you.” She hummed. “I presumed that they would keep the secret from you despite inviting you into their gang. They hadn’t known you for long, after all…”

“I was an accident.”

She paused. “An outlier.”

“I guess.”

“Interesting.” She stood up. “I suppose Belpois is with the supercomputer? That’s where he usually disappears to, hm?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Tonight, you’ll take me to wherever the supercomputer is, and I’ll tell you everything I know in exchange for your knowledge.”

“Deal.” Odd grinned at her. 

“Alrighty then.” She shuffled the papers once again. “You boys better get to your classes. I’ll send your teacher a message that you had questions about my lecture as an excuse for your tardiness.”

They left the classroom, and Odd lingered for a moment, watching as she rearranged the papers before burying her face into her hands.

 

They all decided to use the route through the school over to the factory. She followed behind them on foot, looking slightly unnerved at using the sewers, but otherwise unengaged in the scenery.

It wasn’t until they slid down the ropes and the supercomputer was in sight did she finally express any sort of emotion.

“So this was the great machine my father built.” She stared at for a moment before gazing at the scanners. “Fascinating.”

“So,” Jeremie began. “Can you please tell us all you know, Miss Schaefer?”

“At this point, call me Aelita.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “To be honest, I doubt I’ll know too much more than you, but I’ll indulge.”

She sat down in the chair of the supercomputer, the light from the screen behind her giving her an eerily glow. “My father had been working on this project before I was born. It was called project Carthage. From what I gather, the idea was to create a a device to disrupt enemy communications. Something went wrong, which is why my father created what you call Lyoko and Xanadu in order to destroy Carthage.”

“He somehow gained the attention of the government, who learned of his illegal research through his coworker Tyron, and became a paranoid mess. He eventually disappeared when I was about twelve, and I’m not entirely sure where he went.” She frowned. “One day he was there, teaching me the piano, and the next, he was gone.”

“How did you get involved?”

“My father did not tell me much about his project, but I do remember him becoming afraid of a being called ‘Xanadu’. He had lost control over his creation, and was terrified that it would come after him. He destroyed all of his notes except for some, which he gave to me. I suppose he hoped that I would destroy the supercomputer if he failed.”

“How are you immune to the return to the past?”

“Just before my father disappeared, he sent me to Lyoko. I never knew where the location of the factory was due to my father’s paranoia, which escalated to the point where he didn’t trust even me. But he sent me into it to give me the immunity, though at the time I didn’t know that.”

“Do you… have some sort of power?”

She paused. “Power?”

Jeremie bit his lip. “You see, we’ve learned that when someone goes to Lyoko, the supercomputer messes with the person’s DNA by inserting a specific code which gives them a power that carries over to the real world.”

“I have telekinesis,” Yumi offered.

“I have super speed.”

“I can predict the future.”

Aelita frowned. “Fascinating, but no. I do not possess one. As far as I had learned, the supercomputer didn’t possess that level of power. In fact, by that reasoning, Xanadu would have to have been the one to give you those powers since Carthage was defeated. But that doesn’t make any sense, seeing as Xanadu is bent on killing all of humanity.”

Jeremie shook his head. “I know. It doesn’t make any sense. I have theories about the true origin, but I can’t prove anything.”

Aelita sighed. “Strange.”

“We were wondering if you would help us. We discovered your father’s diary, and we need help decoding it.”

“Diaries?”

“Yes. We searched through the supercomputer and decoded some coordinates that lead us to a train locker. After searching through the Hermitage for the key, we found his diaries in the locker.”

“You went into the Hermitage?”

“Yeah. Was that your father and yours’ home?”

“It was, before my father disappeared.” She sighed. “My mother and I had to relocate and we had to leave everything behind. I didn’t know my father had diaries…”

“Hm. Well, we’d still like your help…”

“Of course. We must find a way to shut down the supercomputer before Xanadu is able to escape it. Once he does, it’s game over for us. Why haven’t you shut it down?”

“There’s so many firewalls and it’s like there’s no off button. In order to shut it down, it’s like it needs some sort of key to lock it.”

“Xanadu must have upgraded his defenses. I know my father had difficulty in shutting down the machine as well, but did eventually manage to do so.” She gave them a small smile. “I’m sure that he hid the answer in his research, and that once we decode the diaries, we’ll be able to find a solution to shutting it down, or destroying the virus entirely.”

Jeremie grinned. “I’m glad to be working with you, Aelita. If you’re even half as good as your father, I’m certain we’ll be able to figure this out in no time.”

She laughed and stood up. “I sure hope so.”

“What do you mean by he’ll escape the supercomputer?” Yumi asked after a moment. Odd had been wondering the same thing.

“Xanadu’s ultimate goal is to commit a humanwide genocide. However, his only access to the real world is through the towers, or otherwise he’s connected to Lyoko and forced to stay there. There’s a way out, however. If Xanadu generates enough power, he’ll eventually be able to escape the confines of the supercomputer and breach into reality at any time for any length without a way to stop him. He’ll then be able to slaughter millions and millions of people at his will, and enact whatever his plans for humanity is.

“Opening towers is fairly draining for him, however. Every time he opens one, it drains his power. By constantly having to open them only for you to deactivate him keeps him in a typically stable power supply, meaning he neither gains energy nor loses it due to his regenerative powers. Regeneration isn’t enough to allow him to gain the power needed to escape, however, which is why he needs to steal power from an outside source, aka the real world.”

She wiped her forehead. “Xanadu is bent on killing you four because your continuous fight against him creates that balance where he can’t gain anymore energy than he already has. If he succeeds in getting rid of you or you are unable to deactivate a tower, he’ll be able to siphon as much energy as he needs.”

Yumi nodded slowly. “I think I follow. Xanadu needs a lot of energy to remain in contact with our reality, so in order to escape he’ll need a lot more energy to no longer need to rely on the supercomputer. By deactivating his towers, we keep him from gaining any energy, which is why we’re usually the targets of his attacks.”

Aelita nodded. “Exactly. You all catch on very quickly.”

“If you don’t mind Aelita,” Jeremie began. “I wanted to start decoding with you tonight, if available.”

“Of course. This needs to be solved as soon as possible.” She glanced at her watch. “I think it may be best for you all to head back to your dorms while Jeremie and I work. It’s rather late.”

Yumi and Ulrich shared a look before heading toward the elevator. Odd lingered behind, and as Jeremie began to access the diary files he had copied, Odd caught Aelita’s attention.

“Aelita,” he began very slowly. “There’s something I want to discuss.”

She raised an eyebrow. “And that is?”

“Xanadu creates these monster on Lyoko that we call spectres. They activate the tower and protect it, I guess.” Aelita nodded. “Well, he made a new monster that we call the Scyphozoa. It can like, manipulate people’s codes and data.”

“Fascinating,” she muttered. 

“Yeah. But it’s sort of, like, focused on me. It keeps trying to steal all of my codes ever since it first appeared. I don’t understand why it’s after me, and neither does Jeremie.”

Aelita understood what he wanted. “Xanadu seems to want something within your codes. I’m afraid I don’t know your data well enough to give you an answer as to why Xanadu is after you in particular, but I’ll check it out and see if I can’t make sense of it.”

Odd nodded. “I see. Whatever it is, it’s enough to stop him from killing me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean he won’t kill me. Whatever he wants from me must makes me not so expendable. During some of his attacks, he refused to finish me off and seems only concerned with getting my codes.”

She furrowed her brows. “Strange. That’s definitely something to look into.”

Odd grinned. “I’m glad you’re in the case then.”

She hesitantly patted his shoulder. “I’ll do my best to help you. I will always be on your kids’ side no matter what happens to me. Whatever he wants isn’t good, so it’s imperative that we keep him from getting to you.”

He nodded. “I guess.”

“Do you have anything else to share?”

“Not really. That was my only concern, and I don’t really have any other information.”

“Then I suppose you better head back to Kadic with your friends. If I find anything, I’ll let you know as soon as possible.”

“Thanks.”

He took the hint and slipped away, heading into the elevator. He watched as Aelita moved next to Jeremie, watching him as he showed her the files they had downloaded from the CD’s. 

A certain phrase of her’s caught his attention. ‘No matter what happens to me’. He frowned, wondering what she meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear William is relevent
> 
> Aelita knows shiit but also doesn’t she’s just doing her best at adulting and teaching


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Xanadu attack...

Odd woke up in a cold sweat, the sheets clinging to his body and his hair sticking up in strange places. Sometimes, Future Flashes would go off even when he was asleep, so instead of being haunted by that strange recurring dream, the pattern would be broken by a prediction of the future. He usually never remembered those Future Flashes, however; just like how after you wake up from a dream, the dream slips out from your grasp like a bar of soap.

He stared at the wall for a few minutes, trying to calm down enough to go back to sleep. Future Flashes that happened at night always managed to rattle his nerves even if they were over mundane things. He wasn’t entirely sure why.

The elf doll he had found back at the Hermitage sat in his line of sight, it's mischievous eyes watching him. He wasn’t sure why he insisted on bringing it back with him, other than it felt important. In the back of his mind, he knew he should probably return it to Aelita, but decided to hold onto it for a little longer.

It had been a few days since Aelita had joined the small gang, and she was quickly proving her intelligence and diligence. She and Jeremie have been working nonstop over the decoding of Franz Hopper’s diaries, and while they haven’t cracked the code, they seem to be on the right track. Jeremie seemed to enjoy having Aelita around to check over his work.

His phone suddenly began to buzz, and he felt around for it, listening to the ringtone he identified as Jeremie’s. Ulrich continued to sleep, undisturbed likely due to the ear plugs he wore at night. Odd snored, yes, but that seemed like overkill to him.

“What’s up, Einstein?” he answered. 

“Wow, you sound awake. I’m surprised any of you are up at this time.” Odd checked his watch and grimaced.

“Future Flash woke me up. Anyway, what’s happening?”

He could feel Jeremie radiate with excitement. “Aelita and I discovered a new file on the supercomputer. I found it a while back but we were finally able to isolate and dissect it from the supercomputer.”

“What is it?”

“We’re not entirely sure at the moment, but it’s a very strange piece of coding. For one thing, it appears to have been recently added; it’s not as dated as the other files we found, indicating it’s not from ten years ago, before the shut down of the supercomputer. The coding is also rather strange, as it seems very familiar and I can not place why. It doesn’t share many similarities to any of Hopper’s programs and Aelita doesn’t recognize the pattern. It could be Tyron’s, Franz’s partner, but it doesn't really add up.”

“Weird. How could it be brand new if the computer’s been shut down for all these years?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. Someone may have turned it on before us and inserted it before shutting it down again, but the file seems pretty new, and it’s hard to believe someone managed to open and shut the supercomputer when we can’t manage that last part.”

Odd hummed. “That’s really weird, but at least the smartest people I know are on it. I’m sure you’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“Thanks Odd. Aelita’s working on decoding the diaries still, but I’m going to focus on this new set of data. The diaries are a very slow process, and I’m not entirely sure if we’re going about it the right way. I just really wish we had a key…”

“Maybe Hopper has the information stored away on that new file…?”

“Maybe…” There was a pause. “I suppose we’ll just have to find out. Anyway, I guess I better go. Night.”

“Night.”

Odd laid in his bed, sinking into the pillows. Tiredness began to sink into his bones, and he tried to process what Jeremie had told him. He wasn’t sure why Jeremie felt the need to call him in the middle of the night, although maybe he felt. Odd seemed to be the one who wanted to be the most informed; Odd wasn’t certain.

Odd began to doze off, but in the back of his mind, he felt a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something.

 

The next morning, Jeremie and the usual gang were at the cafeteria. Odd had arrived late after taking a shower and then refilling his water bottle, and noticed Jeremie was excitedly telling the others of his late night exploits.

“I think it may be some sort of the video,” Jeremie explained as Odd sat down. 

“A video?”

“Yes. But the file is so strange…” Jeremie sighed. “The timeline just doesn’t add up. I don’t understand how a new file could just appear after ten years of the supercomputer being shut down. It seems to have appeared on the day I turned it on, but that just doesn’t make sense.”

“Don’t work yourself up about it,” Odd offered in between bits of his muffin. “Once you decode it or whatever, I’m sure it’ll answer all your questions.”

Jeremie frowned. “I sure hope so.”

“Hey, Odd!” Odd swivelled in his seat to find Milly and Tamiya, this time without a camera, scurrying toward them.

“Hey,” he greeted, flashing a bright smile. The three of them had formed a pseudo-friendship after he had stood up to Sissi, and he liked being around them. He felt like their older brother of sorts, and always tried to be a better older sibling figure than his sisters had been.

“We were wondering if you could do us a favour,” Tamiya began.

“You see, Tamiya and I were going to try and see if we could suggest a dance this year! We’ve got, like, a petition and we were hoping you and your friends could sign it.” Milly handed him a slightly crumpled piece of paper. A few scrabbles of signatures had already been recorded.

“We were hoping this could be a reward or something for good attendance.” Odd didn’t miss the side-eyed look Milly and Tamiya gave to Odd’s friends, and couldn’t fault them. “Sissi loves dances, and will probably be able to convince him if she’s got some more support.”

“A dance sounds like fun,” Yumi said. “You can definitely count me in.”

“No problem,” Odd answered. “I’d love to go to a dance here. We never had any at my old school, you know. Some kid pulled a fire alarm a few years back during one and ruined it for the rest.” That kid had been one of his sisters.

“You poor, deprived child,” Milly squealed, and shoved the paper further at him. “Now we have to get this circulating. Be sure to pass it off to as many people as you can.”

“We’ve got to go. We have a deadline to meet for one of our articles. See ya!”

“You think they could pull it off?” Odd absently asked as Milly and Tamiya sprinted off.

“Maybe,” Jeremie said. “Delmas has always been pretty lenient and if Sissi wants it, Sissi is going to likely get it.”

Yumi laughed. “I’m sure he’ll give in quickly. Milly and Tamiya have pretty potent puppy-dog eyes.”

 

Mrs. Hertz was writing something on the board, but Odd couldn’t focus for the life of him. Something felt very off about himself, and he wasn’t entirely sure what. The board was fuzzy in his sight and the room had a very hazy quality to it, like he was living in a dream.

He felt exhausted and he wasn’t sure why. Throughout the day he felt like he’d slowly been losing all his energy. It was strange, but Odd didn’t think too much about it. Everyone has their off days, don’t they?

“Della Robbia!” Mrs. Hertz snapped, and Odd’s head shot up to find her glaring at him, her hands on her hips. “So you’ve finally decided to listen to me?”

He flushed. He completely zoned out, and had absolutely no idea what he’d missed. 

“I’ve been listening,” he bluffed nervously.

“Oh really? Then can you tell me what the difference between a hypertonic and a hypotonic solution is?”

He blanched and guessed. “Uh… hypertonic means it’s got, like, a lot of energy in it but hypotonic… doesn’t…?”

He heard snickers, his classmates clearly indicating he had spoken wrong, but they slowly melted into white noise. Mrs. Hertz was clearly displeased at the answer and began to speak, but Odd couldn’t make out what she was saying.

A grey mist settled over his eyes, and he could feel his limbs locking into place, stiffening. He heard Ulrich murmur something, his low voice a strange contrast to the buzzing he heard.

And then suddenly, everything went black.

 

Ulrich had seen it coming, from they way Odd’s balance seemed off, and it had only been a matter of time before he dropped. He moved quickly, shoving his chair aside and caught Odd easily under his arms. The boy did not need a hit to the head. Mrs. Hertz looked stunned, and blinked a few times.

“I’m taking Odd to the infirmary,” Ulrich simply stated in that usual tone of his that left no room for argument. 

“I-of course. Be careful.”

He moved Odd into a more comfortable carrying position, and quickly began to walk away. Jeremie remained in his seat for a moment, clearly surprised by the turn of events.

He hesitantly padded after Ulrich, murmuring that he was going to help him, and Mrs. Hertz didn’t voice a complaint.

They walked side by side, the air strangely quiet between the two. Jeremie worriedly looked over Odd, remembering how pale he had slowly turned during the day. 

“Do you think this was Xanadu?” Jeremie asked, and cursed himself. He left his laptop in the class. He should have checked it before he left.

“He has a fever,” Ulrich answered, looking at Jeremie as if his suggestion was absurd. “He’s burning up.”

Odd’s face had turned a rather dark shade of red, and Jeremie could see beads of sweat forming on his hairline. The small boy was shivering slightly however, and he noticed he unconsciously curled further into Ulrich.

“Not everything has to be Xanadu,” Ulrich added. “It’s not unusual for people to get sick.”

Jeremie paused. “I suppose.”

“But… it wouldn’t hurt to check.”

So his paranoia wasn’t entirely brushed off. “I’ll check the alarm system as soon as we get back. I know Aelita is working on the supercomputer at the moment since there’s no class. I’m sure she’ll tell us if there’s an attack.”

Ulrich nodded. After a moment of silence, he muttered, “He had another Future Flash.”

Jeremie was always interested in Odd’s Future Flashes. He hadn’t had as much time researching and investigating the new power in comparison to Yumi’s and Ulrich’s, and so he’d often prod Odd into telling him when he had one and what they were about. “Really? How can you tell?”

“There’s this thing he does when he has one- he completely stiffens up. He freezes in place like a statue. I’m not even sure if he breathes during them.”

Interesting. Ulrich was right in his observation, the more Jeremie thought about it. That was a recurring occurrence. “I bet that was why he passed out. Your guy’s powers require quite the bit of energy to utilize, which is why you can’t maintain your supersprint for very long or why Yumi can’t levitate heavy objects and why Odd can’t have Future Flashes in high successions without breaks. I suppose that Future Flash just completely drained him since he had a fever on top of it.”

Ulrich looked thoughtful, glancing down at Odd. They relapsed into a comfortable silence.

They arrived at the nurse’s office, and Jeremie opened the door. Nurse Yolanda sat at her desk, idly shuffling some papers.

“Hello children,” she greeted. She glanced at Odd and an almost false expression of surprise took over before a wall of stone swept over. “Set him on the cot. I’ll take of him.”

Ulrich did as told, and gently set the boy on the bed. Odd nestled into the blankets, his shivering having increased at the lack of his source of heat. Jeremie could practically feel the heat radiating from the boy.

“Please leave now,” Yolanda ordered, her voice strangely impassive. “You’ll get in my way.”

Jeremie hesitantly headed to the door, and watched Yolanda for a moment, not content with leaving just yet. She seemed to be acting different than usual.

She bent over Odd and Jeremie immediately understood what the problem was. Her eyes flashed the infamous Xanadu symbol.

“Shit- Ulrich! It’s a Xanadu attack! Yolanda’s been possessed!”

Ulrich responded immediately, complete trust in Jeremie. He spun around on his heel and launched a roundhouse kick to Yolanda’s ribs, no hesitation in the movement. Jeremie was slightly flattered.

The spectre grunted and was sent sprawling on the floor from the force of the blow. Ulrich sprinted over to where Odd laid, quickly trying to grab the boy. The spectre suddenly shot out her hand and nabbed Ulrich’s ankle, tripping him. Electric impulses were sent up Ulrich’s skin, and he yelped as he became electrocuted.

Jeremie rushed in and kicked the spectre in the upper torso, which caused it to let go of Ulrich in response. The brunet slumped on the bed, trying to catch his breath, and Jeremie kicked the spectre once more.

Suddenly, the phone in his pocket began to ring, and Jeremie quickly fished it out as the spectre began to stand up. He answered it, holding it up to his ear as he continued to watch the spectre’s movements.

“Xanadu has launched an attack,” Aelita stated. “I’m not sure what it is precisely, but apparently there’s been an influx of people being emitted into hospitals for high fevers.”

“Yeah, we’re fighting a spectre right now,” Jeremie responded. He dodged an aimed punch to his head. “Odd’s one of the people with the high fever.”

He heard Aelita curse. “We still don't know what he wants with him. I’ll call Yumi and let you go. I’ll do my best over here and guard the supercomputer but there’s not much I can do.”

“Thanks, Aelita.”

A sharp kick to his gut ended the call for him as his phone went spiraling into the air, and Jeremie collapsed to the ground. Ulrich stepped back to the ring and sent a quick succession of punches to the spectre. 

Xanadu grinned, and ducked as Ulrich attempted another punch. She jutted out her leg and kicked Ulrich off his feet, electricity crackling from her palm as she sent another string of electricity into his body by grabbing his shoulder.  
Jeremie quickly rushed toward her and tackled her to the ground before too much damage occurred. They struggled for a moment before she shoved him into the ground, his head banging into the concrete floor. She grinned that all too wide grin as she grabbed his wrists, and electricity began to crackle up his arms. 

There was a loud smack of metal hitting flesh, and the spectre was suddenly out of Jeremie’s vision. Odd was barely standing yet leered over Jeremie, the first aid kit held in his hands like a baseball bat.

“Ironic,” Odd muttered weakly, the box dropping from his hands, his grasp too weak to hold on any longer.

Ulrich slowly jumped to his feet and held up his fists, prepared to fight more, but Jeremie shook his head. “Ulrich, get Odd and yourself to Lyoko. Aelita’s already at the supercomputer so she can send you two in. I’ll stay back and keep Yolanda busy.”

Ulrich hesitated, and nervously bit his lip. He didn’t want to leave Jeremie alone, considering the trouble they faced while fighting together.

“Be careful,” Ulrich ordered. He suddenly made a grab for Odd and in one fluid motion was carrying him in a bridal style hold. Odd made a weak protest of being able to walk fine, but Ulrich ignored him in favour of readjusting his hold.

Jeremie absently watched as Ulrich sprinted off just in time for the spectre to recover. Ulrich took one last look at Jeremie before heading down the hall, Odd’s ghostly face beaming an encouraging smile at Jeremie as he slowly faded away.

At last, Jeremie was alone with the spectre.

 

The walk through the sewers was difficult. Ulrich thanked his luck that Odd was lighter than a feather, but it was still awkward to run with an unbalanced weight despite Odd’s attempt to help. The boy had nearly passed out of the climb up to the factory as well, which only caused more difficulty in the journey.

Aelita eyed the two with her keen eyes. “You boys look like you’ve been through hell. I’ll send you into a new one: Lyoko.”

“You think I’ll be alright?” Odd murmured. He really did not want to feel like shit on Lyoko; he’s been there, done that, and he wasn’t a fan.

“I guess we’ll find out… but I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Aelita shrugged and tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Yumi’s already on Lyoko. I’ll send you in when you’re ready.”

They made their way up the stairs, Aelita’s typing the only other sound which reverberated in their ears. Ulrich helped Odd into the scanner, surprisingly gentle despite his rather rough handling earlier. Odd leaned against the walls of the scanner, grimacing as bright lights quickly filled his vision.

He could feel a headache form as a flood of warmth enveloped him.

 

They landed on the grassy floor, and Odd only barely managed to land properly. Ulrich gave him a sideways glance at his save, and Odd shrugged.

“Shit,” he heard Aelita mutter. 

“What’s the problem?”

“To be frank, there are two. For one, there were complications in your transfer from whatever Xanadu’s attack was. The second one is that you were visualised on the other side of Lyoko, far away from the tower.”

“What? How did that happen?”

“The computer randomly spawns you into Lyoko,” Aelita informed, sounding annoyed. “Xanadu has found a way to destroy our ability to spawn you at a specific location, which apparently has been a problem ever since the supercomputer came online for the first time, and Jeremie and I haven’t been able to fix that setting yet.”

“Is Yumi at the tower?”

“Yes, but I’m afraid you might be too far away to be of much help. Fifteen towers away, to be precise.”

Odd groaned. “What are we supposed to do then?”

“Well….” She sounded slightly nervous. “I’ve been working on a vehicle program after Jeremie had mentioned that attacks are especially difficult to manage on a situation like this, when you’re exceptionally far away from the activated tower due to the randomized spawn point.”

“Vehicles?” Odd did not bother trying to hide his enthusiasm. “Vehicles? Like skateboards? Like cars?”

“Sort of. It’s experimental and I haven’t worked out all the bugs but we don’t have much to lose anyway…” There was a pause and Odd assumed she was typing. “I’m activating the program now.”

A few moments later, and Odd watched as a hovering, purple-pink board appeared next to him. A motorcycle with one wheel appeared next to Ulrich, and Odd pulled a face. Why does he get all the cool things? A cool superpower and now a cool bike to match? Not fair.

“The Overboard and the Overbike,” Aelita introduced. “The tower is east of your current position. While you guys are working your way towards Yumi, I’ll be using Odd’s data to figure out what Xanadu’s initial attack was and try to keep you informed of oncoming swarms. Good luck!” 

Odd hopped onto the vehicle, hoping it worked similar to a skateboard. He felt slightly sick still and could feel that his balance was slightly off. Ulrich watched him before revving up his engine, and Odd forced a grin.

“Last one to the tower is a rotten spectre!” He shouted and laughed as he took off, speeding through the air before Ulrich could react.

They raced each other, Ulrich on the ground and Odd in the air. A sickly feeling formed in his stomach, but Odd managed to push it off to the side. He felt much better than when he had been transferred in with the laughing gas. Surely this would be manageable.

He grinned brighter as he saw a ramp-like rock that jutted out of the ground. He increased his speed, excited to perform some of the tricks he’d learned with his skateboard. He ignored Ulrich’s look of disapproval as he hit the base of the ramp, and continued to increase the speed.

Suddenly the scene around him changed, and the familiar stiffness filled his bones. 

Yumi was standing at the other end of Lyoko, completely surrounded by a sea of monsters. She tossed her fans in the air and a pale glow surrounded them, guiding them to the target. They hit the monster dead on, but in that moment of weakness, a large spectre appeared.

It slammed into her side, and Yumi stumbled off the edge of the sector. She let out a scream as she fell, and Odd could hear Aelita yell a faint, “Yumi!”

He nearly nose-dived face first into the dirt ground without even realizing it, his thoughts hazy with the remnants of a Future Flash, but was able to stop himself from tilting too much forward. His head spun as he abruptly halted, avoiding the ground just barely, and nearly spun out of control. Ulrich didn’t look too impressed, and Odd offered a small smile.

The tower loomed in the horizon, and Odd could see the masses of black circling the large white structure. He charged toward the tower, Ulrich racing behind him, neither bothering to waste anymore time. He had a foggy memory of Jeremie fighting a spectre, and knew that time was a luxury.

The spectres immediately began to surround him, and Odd weaved his way inside the swarm, shooting off rounds as he flew into the heart of the pack. He focused on listening to his surroundings, trying to find Yumi. His Future Flash sent anxiety crawling through his skin now that he understood the repercussions of falling into the Digital Sea.

He heard a sharp cry, and saw Yumi tossing her fans at a spectre he recognized from his vision. He grinned and increased his speed toward her, but a spiraling black mass cut him off. He was clipped upside the head, and the Overboard spun out from under him. He tumbled onto the ground, grimacing from the impact and the hit that was landed.

He heard Yumi let out a loud scream, and forced himself to become reoriented. He sprinted toward the edge of the sector, firing a shot in the direction of the spectre that had ambushed her. 

“Yumi!” he heard Aelita shout. Shit.

He leaned over the edge, Yumi couldn’t use her telekinesis to save her; she was falling too fast and needed to be in complete concentration. There was no way she’d be able to focus when she was overwhelmed by panic.

He squinted and lifted up his arm. He really did not want to do this. He inhaled, taking a deep breath, and listened to his arrow fire. He shot two more, spiraling toward his friend.

The shots hit her dead on, and he was fairly impressed considering how far away she was. He watched as she dissolved into blue squares, a wince on her face that made Odd feel slightly guilty.

“Good thinking, Odd,” Aelita cheered. “Yumi was nearly out of life points anyway. But be careful. You guys are down an extra player.”

He frowned and glanced around. The spectres had thinned quite a bit thanks to Yumi’s head start. Ulrich and he didn’t have too much to clean up.

An animalistic screech pierced the silence, and Odd cursed his luck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> too much????


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremie and William tag team, Odd’s skills are sick, and Aelita and yumi and Ulrich are simply doing their best.

Jeremie flew out of the nurse’s office, his back smacking into the cream coloured wall which was now stained with spots of red. He slumped down, momentarily stunned by the harsh blow, and his fingers hit a cool metal he recognised as the shape of his phone as he attempted to drag himself back up to a standing position. It had been knocked away early on in the skirmish, and he blearily pocketed away in hopes that Aelita would bring in some good news. 

He rolled off his back just in time to miss the spectre’s attempt to pounce on him. He stumbled back to his feet, his eyes trained on the possessed being as he backed out of the room. There wasn’t much space to fight in her office. They needed a change of venue, or Jeremie was certain to be killed within the next few minutes.

Suddenly, she charged at him, and Jeremie spun around just in time to get slammed into a wall. He could see the cracks form in his glasses, and stars began to fade into his vision as he tried to shove her off. Yolanda pinned him to the wall, a maniacal smile stretched across her leering face, electricity crackling and sparking in purple arcs in her palms as she reached toward his neck…

“Hey! Jeremie?!” William came running into view, a concerned and clearly confused expression meeting Jeremie’s dread filled one. William quickly took notice of Yolanda, and did a double take. The idea of a teacher with electrical manipulation about to murder one of their students was likely shocking.

William‘s intrusion had distracted Xanadu only for a moment, but that was enough time for Jeremie to take advantage of. 

He kicked Yolanda’s knee cap and grimaced as he slid down the wall when she let go of him, his back sending waves of pain. He sprinted off, grabbing William’s wrist as he did so and tugged the older boy along. William didn’t fight and willingly followed him, although it was clear he had a lot to say about the turn of events by the look on his face.

“Yolanda is possessed by an evil entity known as Xanadu who is currently trying to kill me. At the same time, in a digital world called Lyoko, Xanadu is trying to kill my friends, Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd, who are shutting him down as we speak.” The words were rushed and Jeremie’s panting briefly interrupted his jumbled heap of words at odd intervals. William stared blankly at him as they ran.

“What?”

“Basically, I need your help in distracting Yolanda over there to give my friends enough to time to stop the virus possessing her.”

William seemed to understand that, at least. His bemused expression spoke claimed over his level of understanding, but Jeremie refused to elaborate; they didn’t have the time. “Okay…”

They didn’t make it far before Jeremie was roughly pushed into the set of lockers that had once been in front of him. Yolanda had caught up to them and had slammed him into the nearby wall of blue metal, his face crammed into the spin lock of one of them which threatened to poke out one of his eyes.

William yelped in surprise before moving back toward them, and he roughly grabbed the nurse’s shoulders. It was clear he wasn’t entirely sure what to do, considering he was obviously hesitant about fighting a teacher.

Electricity sparked from her fingertips as she suddenly shot it at William, jerking her head to watch him as his entire body became stiff from the electric overflow. Jermie bit the arm pushing across his neck and into the wall, desperate to get free.

The spectre let him go and he pushed her off of him, causing her to stop producing an electric current. He reached for an abandoned backpack he had noticed earlier and gripped the straps, watching William’s crumbled form on the ground a few feet away from the corner of his eyes. 

The spectre rose from the ground and Jeremie swung the bag as hard as he could, flinging it in the spectres face. Textbooks smashed into her skull and while she didn’t even flinch, she was still pushed back toward the ground from the force.

William sat up, dazed, and Jeremie slung the backpack over his shoulders before running toward him. He offered his hand and yanked WIlliam up before dragging him along as he began to sprint. He needed to lead the spectre out of the school to avoid any risk of unnecessary civilian involvement, because William was a problem enough as it was and he wasn’t sure what the others would make of their now deranged, homicidal and possessed nurse.

Suddenly William pulled away and jerked Jeremie into another room, the door pushed open by the force of their combined weight. They stumbled into a different hallway that Jeremie recognised lead to the swimming pool near the gym. 

The outside wasn't too far away thanks to the short cut, and Jeremie wondered absently if William had been thinking the same thing as him or if blind panic lead him to turn into here.

 

Aelita honed in on the codes flying across the screen, her fingers flying as she tried to keep up. She was attempting to absorb all the information she could from Odd’s codes to understand what the Xanadu attack had been that lead to the mass hospitalization and Odd’s own sickness. She had skimmed through his avatar once before when he had mentioned Xanadu being after his codes, but was never able to properly sort through them until now.

A red exclamation point popped up, and she clicked on a certain piece of coding. She read through it and bit her lip before pulling up Jeremie’s cell. The phone rang once, twice, and a third time. Her nerves were begging to shred.

“Hey?” he heard Jeremie pant on the other end. Electricity crackled eerily in the background and static nearly drowned out his voice. “Aelita?”

“I figured out what had made Odd and multiple others sick. Xanadu had poisoned the local water supply. Whatever you do, don’t let yourself get wet or drink any water.”

There was loud cursing on the other end as well an an accompanying clatter. She wasn’t sure what he had cursed about; the news or the spectre?. “Shit. We’re right next to the pool.”

Aelita winced. “Of course you are.”

Suddenly, Odd’s avatar popped up, and a countdown began to appear. Aelita sank into her chair, and began to type furiously. “I’ve got to go. The Scyphozoa has Odd. Be careful.”

What a mess.

 

A few moments before, and Odd was standing near the edge of Xanadu, wearily backing away from the large monster. He couldn’t remember how much ammunition he had left. Oh boy.

“Nice jellyfish,” he began cautiously, holding his hands up in a mock surrender. “You’re not here to steal my cdoes like usual, are you?”

The Scyphozoa screeched in response, and Odd shot off a round of laser arrows. The monster dodged in a motion so fluid Odd became rather impressed by its flexibility. He raised his wrist to fire another arrow, but the monster slapped him with one of its tentacles. He pouted, shook his wrist which was beginning to sting slightly, and moved back again.

“Hey, you brainless fish!” he yelled. “Don’t you know it’s not nice to play rough?!”

The monster remained deathly silent and continued to follow his movements, inching toward him at the same rate Odd moved away. Odd could feel that he was losing ground too quickly. At any moment, he could hit the edge of Lyoko.

Panic began to fill in body, but he remained calm. Ulrich would get here in time, and while he may not know when he would get here or where he was, he knew he would.

His foot suddenly hit air, and Odd had to shuffle his weight to avoid falling off. Shit. He’d hit the edge of Lyoko. He was out of time.

At that exact moment, his limbs suddenly stiffened. He cursed everything he could think of at the moment, mostly his incredibly bad luck, and a faint black haze filled his vision.

He was in the school, standing next to a pool of deep blue water. There was a loud splash as Jeremie was tossed into the swimming pool, and he heard a faint yell of, _“Shit!”_

Yolanda suddenly grabbed a stunned William and shoved him toward the edge of the water and began to walk toward the pool. As Jeremie emerged from the deep end, sucking a desperate breath, she flug William on top of the blond boy which a powerful shove.

The two began to sink, and Odd reflexively winced as a much too wide smile stretched across the spectre’s otherwise emotionless face.

Before Odd knew it, the haze faded back to the forest surroundings, and he was dangling in the air. His entire body was numb, and he was now face to face with the Scyphozoa. Sharp, icy needles plunged into his skin, and he sunk into a freezing blackness.

 

“Ulrich!” Aelita had screamed. The brunet glanced up at the sky just as he impaled a spectre with his sword. He jumped back to the ground and eyed the rest of the buzzing spectres in distrust. 

“Yes?” he answered, twirling his sword in hopes of appearing threatening.

“Head north of your location. The Scyphozoa has Odd.”

Ulrich silently cursed as he did what was ordered. He slashed the sides of an oncoming pair of spectres as he activated his supersprint. They were at the edge of Lyoko, and a pit of dread formed in his stomach. In the back of his mind, he wished they had voted in William just so he could have more back up.

He skidded to a stop as he found the creature in question. It’s back was facing him, and Ulrich could just make out Odd tangled in the jellyfish’s clutches. He cursed out loud this time, twirling his sword as he moved around to get a better view of the situation, trying to think of a solution to an obvious problem he was now faced with.

“What’s the problem?” Aelita asked, anxiety in her voice.

“The Scyphozoa is holding Odd over the edge of Lyoko. If I free him, the Scyphozoa will drop him into the Digital Sea. and I won’t be able to catch him”

An interesting strategy. He supposed it was supposed to be leverage against Ulrich to sway him into not coming after his friend. But it didn’t entirely make sense. It’s extremely risky, considering whatever he wants from Odd seems to be important. One false move and Odd would be permanently deleted.

“Well, we can’t just let the Scyphozoa take him,” he heard Yumi mutter. She must have recovered from the devirtualization and was helping Aelita. A hum of agreement came from Aelita. “Do you have a plan?”

Ulrich did, but he didn’t like it and really didn’t want to use it. “Yes.”

“Then hurry up,” Aelita murmured, though not unkindly. She was clearly anxious. “You’re running out of time, so I suggest you make a move no matter how risky.”

Ulrich took the cue and sprinted toward the Scyphozoa. He was thankful the Goliath of a jellyfish didn’t have much in the way of defenses while it was stealing codes, and its size made it into an easy target.

He jumped off the ground and flew into the air, his sword glimmering as he somersaulted through the air. His sword snagged the tentacles and sliced through them easily before he landed on the ground.

He swiveled around just as the Scyphozoa began to retreat, its shrieks ringing in his ears. He leaned over the edge and aimed his sword, watching as Odd began to free fall towards the Digital Sea. He only had one chance.

He ducked in a deep breath, then flung his sword as hard as he could.

The force propelled the metal through the air and he watched as it sunk into Odd’s stomach. He winced as he saw Odd grimace before turning into a swirl of blue diamonds.

That was close.

 

Jeremie ducked a blow to the head and watched as William swung a life jacket at the spectre. He wasn’t entirely sure what William’s plan was considering he doubted the damage that could be dealt with a life preserver but didn’t argue at the help.

Yolanda swiveled around just in time to kick William’s lower leg, sweeping him off his feet. William went down chin first into the concrete, and Jeremie charged after her.

She suddenly caught him and her fingers gripped his arms so tight he could feel her nails sharply digging into his skin. He was being lifted in the air, and he struggled as hard as he could. 

She tossed him to the side, and Jeremie clawed at the air before submerging into the clear waters. Water flooded into his lungs as he took a breath from surprise, and he frantically began to swim his way to the top.

He surfaced just in time to watch William get shoved into the pool, the boy narrowly missing Jeremie. He became pulled under from the waves and the two began to fight to reach the surface once more, sinking into the cool depths of the water as they tried to get their bearings.

Jeremie took a deep breath as he broke through the watery prision, fear coursing through him. The water had been poisoned, and he wasn’t sure how fast it would take for the contamination to reach him. It had taken Odd a few hours to feel the side effects but he wasn’t sure what Xanadu could have changed in that time frame, or when exactly Odd had been poisoned.

He had warned William that the water was contaminated, but either that wasn’t a priority or William simply forgot. He didn’t look at all shaken by the fact they had been dunked and breathed in the toxic water; he had quickly recovered from the near drowning and was beginning to swim toward the edge of the pool.

There was another splash as Yolanda dived in. She raced toward Jeremie like a shark who had smelled the blood of her prey. Panic filled Jeremie’s bones as he dived back under, trying to swim away as fast as he could.

Nails scrapped his scalp and he felt a hand become tangled in his hair. Electricity crackled in the background as she forced his head to stay under, pushing him as far as she could.

He heard a scream likely from William, and he’d bet that she had electrocuted him. There was another loud splash as William fell back into the water, and Jeremie could feel his lungs screaming for oxygen.

He struggled as hard as he could, trying to break free, but he quickly became overwhelmed with fatigue. His vision became dizzy and he was only expending his needed oxygen at a higher rate than necessary.

Panic settled in his bones as he suddenly took a breath, and water rushed inside him. He cough erratically as it flooded his lungs, and he began to thrash around yet again.

He raked his nails as hard as he could against her arm, scratching desperately to get her to let go. It was a desperate last attempt in order to get free from her iron grip. It worked.

She loosened her grip just long enough for him to be able to resurface, and he sucked in as much air as he could before coughing out the rest of the water. The dizziness hadn’t left him and had in fact worsened, and he had a feeling his escape efforts were in vain.

There was a sharp swoosh as she grabbed his head, and he felt his skull smash against the concrete ledge of the swimming pool. Blood spilled into the clear waters, swirling into strange patterns as waves began to carry it away, and she shoved him back under, pushing him down as she became submerged along with him into the translucent glass.

He couldn’t think straight any longer, and felt the floor of the pool touch his back. Everything became white noise to him, and the panic he’d been feeling drifted off into a numbness.

His vision finally faded to a quiet black.

 

The scanners opened and Odd’s knees buckled without warning. Odd felt absolutely miserable, his stomach stinging in a sharp pain, feeling drained of energy, and didn’t have the reflexes nor the strength to catch himself at the moment. He let himself fall, and relished the feel of cold metal against his blazing skin until a sudden frostbite ate him. He was freezing.

He laid on the ground for an immeasurable amount of time, a coldness settling in his bones as icicles pricked his skin. The feeling made him shudder from the familiarity and the chills, and the world around him began to blur and tilt.

Hands were suddenly on his shoulders, shaking him, and his eyes blearily opened. He hadn’t even realized he’d closed them.

“Odd!” Yumi sounded frantic. “Odd, for God’s sake, answer me!”

“Mmmm,” he mumbled, and began to close his eyes again. He was so tired.

“Hey, wake up! Stay awake!” She slapped him, and his cheek stung. His eyes snapped back open and he shuddered violently, not bothering to respond to her.

She bit her lip and slowly pulled him into her arms. He embraced her warmth and buried himself in the crook of her neck. He felt like he was freezing.

“Jesus,” she muttered. “You’re overheating at a dangerous level. You feel like you just came out of the oven.”

“I’ve always been hot,” he slurred, grinning lucidly as she carried him to the bottom of the stairs.

“Didn’t you say the water was poisoned?” Yumi asked, and he heard the gentle clicks of Aelita’s fingernails on the keys abruptly stop. “That’s what’s wrong with him?”

“Yes. Xanadu has created some sort of fast acting virus.” He felt someone hover overhead, and didn’t bother looking up. Aelita‘s hand became pressed against his forehead. “Holy shit, he’s like a sauna. We have to cool him down.”

He wanted to argue that he was already freezing, but his tongue felt too heavy and he became overwhelmed by fatigue. His eyes slipped closed as he felt Yumi set him down on the couch. He shivered at the loss of heat.

Blackness blurred the edges of his vision as he fought to keep his eyes open.

Aelita was keeping her eyes trained on the map of Lyoko, watching as some icons of spectres disappeared from the screen. “Ulrich, please tell me you’re almost done…”

Ulrich only grunted for a moment. “Yes. Just a few more…”

He cut himself off, and Aelita pulled away from the screen in time to hear Yumi yell of a string of profanities. She rushed to her side and blanched at the sight.

Odd was convulsing, his body jerking in unnatural movements. Aelita panicked; she was a computer science teacher, not a doctor. She had absolutely no idea on how to help him, but could feel Yumi’s hopeful and expectant eyes trained on her, and guilt ebbed away in her. 

She hesitantly moved toward him and began to try to reposition him on his side. She wasn’t entirely sure about the mechanics of the virus he’d been given, and thus didn’t know what the proper procedure was. She wasn’t certain how much damage this seizure could cause considering she didn’t understand the scope of the virus.

She eyed the watch on her wrist, and tried to remember the basic training she’d received. She knew she wasn’t supposed to hold him down, but what sort of mutations had Xanadu caused?

Suddenly, his jerking stopped, and he remained completely motionless. His body became limp in an abrupt halt, like he was a puppet whose strings had been snapped, and Aelita waited a few seconds before sweeping in to check him over. His chest wasn’t rising. She couldn't feel him breathing, and she pressed a hand to feel for his pulse.

“Shit,” she muttered, and carefully pushed him onto his back. Shit. She wasn't going to let this kid die. Xanadu would not be taking anymore casualties. She wouldn’t let it. She couldn’t. “Come on kid, you have to stay alive.”

Diligently, she began to work on chest compressions. Fear spiked through her veins as she tried to understand what went wrong. Is he simply forgetting to breathe? Did his lungs shut down? She didn’t know.

Yumi had wandered over to the supercomputer, and seemed to be analysing Ulrich’s progress. She hoped to God that he was almost finished. She didn't know how long Odd had left, and Jeremie’s condition was completely unknown.

“Ulrich! You did it!” Yumi was cheering, and immediately glanced at Aelita. “The tower’s been deactivated!”

Aelita rushed from Odd’s side, and the two girls switched places. Yumi continued with Aelita’s chest compressions as Aelita began to pull up the return to the past program. She wasn’t near as fast as Jeremie since she hadn’t had the experience of working on the supercomputer much before. 

“Please, come on Odd,” she heard Yumi desperately beg. One more line and...

“Return to the past now!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is any of this coherent
> 
> But yeah anyway Jeremie Odd and William are all dead whoops


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *slaps roof of the chapter* This bad boy can fit in so many Jeremie/Odd friendship moments
> 
> The Professor comes out to shame mankind (Jeremie)

“That was, quite frankly, a disaster.” Jeremie clicked the roof of his mouth before sucking in a deep breath. They were seated in the factory, immediately gathering back there after the Xanadu attack to have a private talk.

“You could say that again,” Aelita muttered, rubbing her forehead. “We really edged the line between success and failure.”

Odd clutched his stomach and folded his legs up to his chest. He was sitting on the ground, next to Ulrich and Yumi, who had taken up the couch, and Jeremie leaned on the arm while aelita stayed in her chair. His virus or whatever Xanadu had given him was gone, yet he still felt sick to his stomach. He remained silent as they spoke.

“We need to add another member,” Yumi suddenly said, smacking her fist into her palm. “We need another fighter. If Ulrich hadn’t been able to destroy those spectres, we all could have easily been killed.”

Jeremie adjusted his glasses. “In all honesty, that’s not a bad idea. I don’t think I would have made it very far without William’s help. With more training and experience, I think he could really become an important member.”

Ulrich clenched his jaw, but remained silent. Aelita nodded. “I’d offer to help you myself, but I’m no fighter.”

“We need the help.” Yumi sighed. “It was rough before, but Xanadu seems to be gaining more and more power and…”

Odd could feel her eyes dart to him as she trailed off. He bluntly said what no one else was willing to say. “Yeah, I’m supposed to be the extra help, but with Xanadu targeting me, I’m more of a hindrance.”

Ulrich tapped his fingers on his crossed arm. “You’re not a hindrance and we don’t need any help. We’re managing just fine.”

“Ulrich, you need to set aside your petty grudge with him-“

“I don’t have a grudge!” Ulrich lowered his volume. “I just do not trust William. We can find someone else, but not him.”

“We don’t know anyone else!” Yumi was exasperated. 

Odd understood why. From Sissi’s initial description of them, no one seemed too keen on hanging out with the group since they seemed to be involved in something strange. No one seemed to fond of the kids who disappeared randomly throughout the day, then reappeared with unexplained injuries and looking as if they carried the weight of the world on their shoulder.

He knew Milly and Tamiya even steered clear from them. And those two did whatever it took to dig for a story. 

Jeremie put up a hand. “Let’s not fight. We can figure this out, okay? We are making some progress- we’re getting closer to decoding the video file I found not too long ago, and Aelita and I are sure to decode Hopper’s diaries. It’s not like the situation is completely desolate.”

“Odd.” Yumi stared directly at him. “Don’t you have any input on this?”

It was clear she was hoping he’d be in his side. His mind was still on the attack, still on the feeling of suffering seizures, still on the concept of being Xanadu’s target. He remained silent for a moment, and all eyes had been turned on him, attentive, waiting.

“I don’t know him as well as you guys,” he simply answered. “I’ve only talked to him on occasion. He seems descent, and I do like him, but… if Ulrich doesn’t find him trustworthy, then I think we should wait before we invite him… so he can prove himself, I guess.”

Yumi bit her lip, and Aelita sighed. “I don’t know how much time we have left.”

“Don’t worry,” Odd said, waving his hand. “We’ll survive.”

The haunted faces that watched him clearly didn’t believe him.

 

Jeremie rubbed his eyes as he and Odd began to enter the factory. It was a day or so after the last attack, and they had been left in the aftermath to pick up where they left off. Yumi and Ulrich were busy with another Pencil Silat practice, which left Odd alone and bored. Naturally, he decided to pester Jeremie.

“So,” Odd began, kicking a rock as they walked. “You’ve virtualized yourself before?” Odd watched as Jeremie suddenly seemed uncomfortable.

“Yeah. It was a while back, just to see what XANADU looked like from Yumi and Ulrich’s point of view. And eventually, to gain immunity from the return to the past.

“What did you look like?” 

Jeremie coughed. “Nothing special.”

“Oh come on! What did you look like? It can’t be any worse than mine. I’m a giant purple cat!”

“Can we _please_ drop this?”

“Fine. So if you virtualized yourself, does that mean that you have a power too? Like my Future Flash, or Ulrich’s superspeed?” Odd wasn’t going to lie, he’s been wondering this since Jeremie mentioned he’d been virtualized.

“No.”

“No? How come?”

“I didn’t stay long enough to for the supercomputer to develop a power for me.”

Odd frowned as they walked, thinking. “Really?”

“Yeah. The supercomputer develops the power for you, and then transfers it to your digital coding so it can become a part of your DNA. Of course, it takes time for the supercomputer to develop a personalised program, then attach it to your code. And I didn’t stay long enough for the computer to finish its code.”

“Don’t you want a power?”

“No way,” he answered, glancing at Odd before giving a soft laugh. “I’d hate to have a power if it gets me in half as much trouble as yours does.”

Odd groaned.

They took the elevator this time, since they were not in a rush. The machine groaned in protest at being used, and Jeremie idly jotted a mental note to tune it up sometime soon.

“I wonder where Aelita went,” Odd suddenly said. “She had a sub today in class while you were holed up in your room coding.”

Jeremie hummed. “Maybe she beat us to the factory.”

Odd looked uncertain. “Maybe.”

The doors opened, and they began to move toward the supercomputer. As they did, Odd suddenly stopped where he was, eyeing the seat at the helm of the machine.

Suddenly, Jeremie’s computer went off. He slipped it out of his bag and opened it, fearful that it was a Xanadu attack. His eyes widened.

“Xanadu’s activated all the towers at once!” He was panicking. “He’s activated all ten towers!”

Odd suddenly grabbed his shoulder before he could rush toward the supercomputer. He pulled him back, frowning, and stared at the back of the chair. “We’re not alone.”

The words sent shivers down Jeremie’s spine.

The chair slowly began to turn, and the hair on the back of his neck prickled. Odd balled his fists, clearly prepared for a fight.

Franz Hopper sat in front of them, the monitor behind him casting an eerie glow. His glasses reflected the light, and his eyes were no longer visible.

“Hello children,” he greeted.

Jeremie felt like he was going to faint. _The_ Franz Hopper? Here?

“What?” Was all Jeremie could mutter.

Odd blinked. “Hopper?”

He nodded. “The one and only.”

“How are you here? What have you been up to? Where have you been? What are you doing here? What-“

Franz held up a hand, and Jeremie cut off his rambling. “It’s a long story, but I’m just glad I’m here. I’ll explain it later, but right now it’s imperative that we stop Xanadu as soon as possible.”

“He’s activated all ten towers-“

“Ah, that.” Franz folded his hands. “I’ve already taken care of that.”

Jeremie blinked, and glanced back at his computer screen. The alarm had shut off, and all pop up alerts had closed. “How? You’re not even in Lyoko!”

He tilted his head. “How else is one supposed to deactivate the towers? Through the manual operation of the supercomputer.”

“You don’t have to go inside Lyoko to deactivate a tower?” Odd sounded bewildered, his eyes darting to Jeremie.  
Hopper looked confused, then concerned. 

“Of course not. Are you telling me you’ve been inside Xanadu?”

“Well, yeah.” Jeremie blinked rapidly. “We go to Lyoko, and defeat all of the monsters that Xanadu makes to activate and protect the tower.”

Franz looked slightly frantic. “You used the scanners?”

“Yes?”

“No, no.” Franz stood up and walked toward them, clearly alarmed. “Those scanners weren’t ever meant for actual usage! They’re extremely dangerous and could have resulted in the altercation of your DNA.”

Jeremie bit his lip. “They already do have altercations to their DNA. They have what you could call superpowers- Odd here can predict the future, and my other friends have super speed and telekinesis.”

Hopper shook his head. “By alterations I meant the afflictions of viruses. Those powers are an automatic defence program I installed.”

Jeremie paused. “You programmed the supercomputer to alter one’s DNA to fabricate superpowers?”

“Yes.” Hopper glanced down at Odd, and with an analytical sweep of his eyes, frowned deeper than before. “We’re going to have to run scans on you and your friends in case of any of you may house a virus, or what I truly fear, cell degeneration.”

Odd blinked. “Wait, if the scanners can cause all that bad stuff, why’d you send Aelita into Xanadu?”

Hopper froze in place. For a moment, it was dead silent, until Hopper placed a hand on Odd’s shoulder. The blond visibly finched.

“Aelita,” he muttered. “I haven’t heard that name in a long time…” He sighed. “The scanners had been damaged not long after I let Aelita into Xanadu, from a Xanadu attack. I didn’t have time to fix them before I was captured by Xanadu.”

Jeremie frowned. “I should call Aelita. I’m certain you would want to reunite with your daughter, after all.”

Hopper gave a him a crisp nod. “Yes, however I think you should contact your other friends so I can scan them. I’m not sure what the scope of the damage you’ve caused is.”

The words stung, and Jeremie clenched his fist but remained silent.

 

After giving Yumi a quick call, Ulrich and Yumi had arrived a few minutes later. Odd and Jeremie had spent the few minutes before their arrival in quiet contemplation. Jeremie didn’t know what to think of all the information provided.

Had he nearly killed his friends?

He tried to call Aelita, but she wasn’t answering him. He wondered not for the first time where she was. 

Odd watched Hopper intently, chewing on his lip. He clearly had something on his mind.

“Do you know why Xanadu’s after me?” He finally blurted. Hopper didn’t turn around to answer, but he did pause.

“What do you mean?”

Odd deflated slightly. “Xanadu sends this monster we call the Scyphozoa after me to steal all my codes. Why would it want my codes?”

Another pause. “I’m not sure. When I scan you, I’ll take a look at your coding to see what could be of interest to Xanadu.”

Odd looked ready to say more when the elevator opened, and Yumi and Ulrich were standing behind them, clearly agitated. They quickly walked up to the group and gave Jeremie a bewildered expression.

Franz Hopper turned away from the supercomputer to glance at the new arrivals. “Hello. I’m Franz Hopper. I assume Jeremie has informed you of what’s going on?”

Yumi gave him a dumbstruck look. “Yes. The scanners seemed to be in operational and you’re going to scan us to see if we’re suffering any cell degeneration or viruses. Right?”

“Right.” He sent a looked to Jeremie. “You’re friend here may have endangered your lives, and I intend to fix it. All three of you can head to the scanner room.”

They walked off toward the stairs, Odd lingering behind for a moment. He stared at Franz for a moment, uncertainty clear, before giving Jeremie a pat on the back and followed Yumi and Ulrich.

“Transfer Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich.” Jeremie watched as he rapidly began to type. “Scanner Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich.”

He inched toward him to see the screen. He watched as each of their avatars popped up and slowly began to load.

“Ulrich seems to be in good health,” Franz commented. He suddenly clicked his tongue. “I can’t say the same for Yumi. She shows signs of early cell degeneration within the brain.”

“Will she be okay?” Ulrich’s frantic voice echoed from the scanner room.

“I don’t think there’s anything I could do for her. It could be fatal, especially if she takes anymore trips to Lyoko.” He looked displeased. “On to Odd…”

Jeremie crossed his fingers. Oh god, Yumi. He’s going to have killed Yumi.

“Strange,” he muttered, digging through the glowing codes. “It seems he has a virus of some sort. It appears to have originated from a piece of the return to the past program…”

Jeremie’s fists tightened, his nails digging into his skin. “What do you mean?”

“I mean-“ He sounded agitated- “that his codes are becoming infected. Xanadu must have altered a piece of the return to the past and given it to him when he first transferred. Any more trips to Lyoko, and I’m afraid he could cease to exists.”

Jeremie’s stomach flipped.

Shit.

The scanner doors opened, and he heard the collective gasps for air from his friends. He watched as they stumbled down the stairs like zombies, clearly in shock. 

They stopped, and he could feel a withering glare from Ulrich. He really messed up.

“I may be able to stop it from progressing, but I can’t promise a permanent cure.” Hopper appeared apologetic, side eying Jeremie. “I’ll stay here to try, and I advise you all to go back to school. It’s been a long day, and there’s not much do you to do here.”

“I can help-“

“Haven’t you done enough?”

Jeremie winced. Hopper’s eyebrow was raised, and while he wasn’t angry, the words having come out rather matter of factly, they still stung.

They began to walk off together, Yumi and Ulrich whispering to each other as they walked ahead. Yumi seemed afraid, having turned rather pale, and her hands shook. 

Odd walked side by side with Jeremie, his eyes trained on his shoes. “Well, this sucks.”

“It sure does,” Yumi bit, glancing at Jeremie. 

“Wonder who we have to blame for this,” Ulrich muttered under his breath, and Jeremie frowned at the jab.

“Let’s not argue,” Odd simply ordered. “We’re not dead yet.”

“Yeah, yet.”

They slipped into the next floor, the factory entrance not far off. In the distance, Jeremie could hear a soft thudding. He assumed they were the rats that they knew frequented the factory from the sewers.

“I’m going home. I think I want to be alone right now,” Yumi said. She glanced at Ulrich. “Coming with?”

Jeremie watched as they walked off in the opposite direction, leaving Odd and him alone. They didn’t look back. Guilt ate at Jeremie’s conscious.

“Yikes,” was all Odd said for a few moments. “Anyway, I guess it’s time for us to head back.”

“Why are you even talking to me? Aren’t you upset like them?”

“I mean, yeah.” Odd shrugged. “I don’t want a virus in me, but what can ya do? If you knew the dangers, you wouldn’t have sent us there. Besides, that virus isn’t the only danger in my life anyway. The Scyphozoa still after me.”

Odd’s nonchalant demeanour slightly unnerved Jeremie despite the fact he was trying to be reassuring. “Have you had any future flashes about anything related to this?”

He shook his head. “It’s been kind of radio silent today.” He made a popping sound with his mouth. “I did have one Future Flash though. It was in a very dimly lit room. Papers were scattered all over the ground, and the only thing I heard was heavy breathing.”

“That’s… scary.”

“Yep.” He shrugged. “I can’t make heads or tails of it. I don’t know who’s breathing or where it is. But what can ya do?”

They remained shrouded in silence for a while longer. Jeremie watched him from the corner of his eyes, trying to see if anything was out of place with him. Was he as shaken as Yumi was?

His fingers quivered slightly, but he seemed otherwise the same. Still that scrawny, tan, eccentric jokester.

 

Jeremie sat in his room, laying on his bed. Guilt ebbed away at his conscious, but suspicion nagged in his mind. Franz Hopper just magically appeared to fix everything, even that cell degeneration that Jeremie hadn’t known about?

He wasn’t sure if he could trust him. There were some things that just didn’t seem to add up about his sudden appearance. His answer over where he’d been was vague, and Aelita’s virtualization still didn’t really match what he had said.

Speaking of which, where in the world was Aelita?

He rubbed his eyes. It was all so confusing. He didn’t want to come off as paranoid to the one miracle they’d been given, but he couldn’t help it. It was too good to be true.

And if his theories on where Franz Hopper had spent the last ten years was really true, then nothing about this Franz Hopper made sense.

He closed his eyes. Still, if it did all turn out to be true…

There was a knock at his door. He bolted upright, heart racing. Slowly, he crept toward the door. Visitors at night never did mean anything good.

He opened it and found Odd at his door, a pillow in hand and a blanket draped around his shoulders. He gave him a small grin.

“Ulrich’s not back yet,” he explained as he pushed past into his room. “And I don’t like sleeping alone, so I’m going to stay here for the night.”

Jeremie rolled his eyes. “Odd, you can’t just barge in here and stay the night without even asking for my opinion.”

“Well then, are you going to kick me out?” Odd challenged, grinning. 

Even after all that happened, Odd bounced back and remained himself. Jeremie shook his head. “No. I suppose not.”

Odd grinned. “I thought so. Besides, it does us both a favour.”

“Oh really?”

“Yep. Sleeping near someone else works wonders.” He winked. “Trust me, with years of sharing rooms with my sisters, I’d know.”

He watched as he laid down on the ground, and draped the blanket over himself. He remained silent for a moment. He forgot that Odd had siblings, just like Yumi did. They both had families, and he was about to take them away from them.

The lights were already off, and Jeremie laid back down. The two remained silent for a while, a tender quietness blanketing them in the winter season.

“It’s not your fault,” Odd mumbled. 

Jeremie glanced at him, ready to say something, only to find him asleep. 

He smiled to himself quietly.

 

The sounds of an alarm going off woke him up. He scrambled out of bed, nearly falling on top of a still-dead-asleep Odd. He reached for his computer, and flipped the lid.

Xanadu had activated a tower.

Odd sat up and rubbed his eyes, frowning. His hair was sticking up all over the place, and Jeremie and him locked eyes.

“Xanadu’s attacking,” he said, although Odd already seemed to understand.

Odd grinned. “Well, let’s head over to the factory and see what Hopper has to say about that.”

Jeremie wasn’t sure how to interpret his tone.

 

The two boys had travelled through the forest and the sewers, sliding down the ropes of the factory. Jeremie had warned Ulrich and Yumi of the attack, and wasn’t sure whether they’d come or not.

Hopper stood at the desk, frowning at the screen. He greeted them without looking up. “Head to the scanner room.”

“Huh?” Odd frowned. “Isn’t that, like, dangerous?”

Hopper shook his head. “I believe I have found a cure of sorts for you and Yumi. However, I’ll have to insert it to you guys through a waytower. Therefore, you must enter Xanadu so I can give it to you. While you’re there, you can take down Xanadu.”

“Can’t you just deactivate the tower yourself?” Jeremie asked, and venom laced his words without his permission.

“Xanadu’s locking me out of the system. He’s become extremely powerful during the time I was away.” He sent a sharp look to Jeremie. “Imagine who’s fault that may be. But in any case, you’ll have to go. Will you risk it?”

Odd paused. “Sure.”

Franz nodded. “I’ll send you in. Your friends have already arrived and been briefed. They’re waiting for you.”

Odd climbed up the stairs, looking weary. Jeremie watched as he entered the middle scanner, frowning at Odd’s clear uncertainty.

 

Odd fell to the ground, and was immediately bombarded with flashes of images. The stiffness crawled into his skin and he stood there as a Future Flash rang through his mind.

Yumi and Ulrich stood, cornered by a large crowd of spectres. Ulrich’s sword and Yumi’s twin fans slashed through one after another, yet the mass of black seemed to swallow the two whole.

 _“It’s a trap!”_ He heard Jeremie yell, before promptly grunting. _“Xanadu’s removed your weapons and is now attempting to delete you and the Scyphozoa has Odd!”_

The vision faded, and Odd panicked. “Jeremie!” He shouted. “Jeremie! Franz is-“

A sharp jab to his ribs cut him off. A spectre had launched itself into his side, and Odd could taste those lifepoints leaving him. Shit.

He rolled over and shot a quick arrow, hitting the spectre dead on. He smugly grinned, before the ear piercing screeching of the Scyphozoa sliced through the air.

He jumped up and saw the jellyfish monster slithering right toward him. Hopper must have figured out a way to virtualise him right next to the monster.

He held up his wrist and began to shoot. The arrows struck the top of its head, and seemingly cause no damage. 

He tried to back up, and lowered his arm to fire. He aimed at the large Xanadu symbol on its head, and took a deep breath.

Before he could fire, a tentacle slapped his wrist. The arrow spun out of control and nicked the grassy floor. He frowned.

“Rude,” he muttered, hyper aware of the lack of space between him and the monster. He tried to shoot another arrow, but this time it dodged.

He hesitated, before turning on his heel. He sprinted away, trying to move as fast as he could. He screamed as loud as he could, needing to warn his friend. “Jeremie!”

Tentacles wrapped around his arms and legs, and he tripped. He cursed loudly as he was lifted into the air, and tried again. “Jeremie! Don’t trust Hopper!”

Before he could get another word out, a sharp pick of icicles sliced into his skin, and his surroundings turned a shade of black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep.
> 
> A virus in Odd.... sounds.... familiar..........


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeremie dukes it out with the spectre, a friend is found, and Yumi and Ulrich save the day.

Jeremie watched as Franz Hopper typed. There wasn’t anything for him to do except watch. Besides, his distrust towards the man was still heavy on his mind, and he didn’t quite what to to leave him alone.

Loud thumps from rooms away caught his ear. They were muffled, and repetitive. Must be those pesky sewer rats in the vents again.

He slowly began to walk up to the man, watching the screen. He frowned as he analysed the coding, trying to understand what Hopper was doing. He recognised the weapons program…

He’s disengaging them.

“What are you doing?!” Jeremie yelled. “You’re deactivating the weapons program. They need that to fight the spectres.”

Franz glanced up from the computer screen. His eyes flashed the Xanadu symbol, his glasses no longer reflecting the light to hide behind, and Jeremie’s blood went cold.

Of course he was fake. His sudden appearance, his disengagement at the mention of Aelita, Aelita’s disappearance, his disdain towards Jeremie and the attempt to split up the group…

“And you’re supposed to be the smart one,” Hopper sneered. Lightning formed at the snap of his fingers, and electricity crackled in the dry air of winter. Jeremie jumped back, narrowly avoiding an attempted electrocution.

Shit.

He had to lure the spectre away from the computer, and he needed to warn his friends. He glanced around, trying to find a weapon to use. Xanadu seems to be getting more and more powerful, and he doubted he could fight him and win with only his fists.

He bent down to pick up a loose sheet of twisted metal, dodging a fist aimed toward his head. The spectre had snuck up while he was searching. He slammed the piece of metal into his leg, the sharp edge sinking into its skin.

For a moment, the leg glitched, and black ooze seeped from the wound. Jeremie pulled the scrap back out and listened to the hiss of Xanadu’s spectre as he stumbled away, momentarily stunned from the stab wound.

Jeremie slipped the headset on his head as fast as he could, typing rapidly to check the scope of damage. A countdown suddenly appeared along with Odd’s avatar, and he grimaced. 

“Yumi! Ulrich! It’s a trap!” A spark of electricity was shot at him, and he grunted as he dodged. “Xanadu’s removed your weapons, and is now attempting to delete you and the Scyphozoa has Odd!”

It came out in one rushed breath, and he hoped to God that Yumi and Ulrich understood him. And believed him.

A swift kick to the side of his chest caught him off guard. He tumbled away from the supercomputer, struggling for air as he stumbled back. Hopper had a maniacal grin twisted onto his lips, and Jeremie hoped his plan would work.

He took a deep breath and sprinted as fast as he could, glancing back to see if Hopper would follow. The spectre bolted after him, and Jeremie clutched the metal scrap tighter. 

He needed to lead the spectre away from the supercomputer to avoid more tampering. So far, it was working. 

The thumping he heard grew louder the farther he ran, and he realised just how loud it was. There was no way a rat could make that much racket.

He skidded to the stop at one of the doors within the factory. It looked to be an office of sorts, and the thumping seemed to be coming from within. He yanked the door open and slammed it shut.

He needed to catch his breath, and he watched from the glass window, looking for Xanadu.

A muffled, human grunt caught his attention. He twirled around, papers crunching under his feet, the sound of heavy breathing filling his ears. Odd’s casual mention of his Future Flash flittered through his mind, and he startled as he came face to face with a pair of glowing green eyes.

Aelita stared at him with a sort of deadpan expression. She was tired to an old office chair, and was clearly gagged.

“Aelita,” he finally said, and rushed to her side. He pulled out the gag, and she took a deep breath.

“Thank god,” she muttered. “Xanadu’s attacking by using a copy of my father-“

“Yeah, we’ve met.” He began to untie her bounds. “He’s actually chasing me at this moment after he destroyed Ulrich and Yumi’s weapons. He swindled us into thinking he was real, and…”

Aelita nodded, and rubbed her now free wrists. “I see. Xanadu caught me off guard and was able to capture me. I’m not entirely sure why didn’t just kill me. But… we better hurry up and fix the damage Xanadu’s done. Surely, both of us can take on a spectre?”

The door flew open with such a high force the glass window shattered. Jeremie scrambled away from the shards and Aelita pushed herself out of her chair. She looked livid as she stared down the faux Hopper.

She grabbed the chair she’d been sitting in and threw it at the spectre. It dodged and raced toward them, that too wide smile still perched on his face.

Jeremie dodged a punch to the face but missed a sweeping kick, falling to the ground as his ankles were kicked. Aelita threw herself toward the spectre as Jeremie dropped, her fists flying as she moved toward him.

She glanced at him, and winked. Jeremie had a feeling he knew what she meant as she jerked her head toward the door.

He jumped back to his feet and began to hightail it out of the office. He could hear Aelita’s jeers echo around him as he raced back to the supercomputer.

 

Ulrich’s fists tightened as he dodged a spectre speeding his way. He wasn’t going to be of any use without his weapon. His fists were good for defense, but they won’t cause much damage to the spectres.

“We have to find Odd,” Yumi stated, moving toward him from the left as she carefully watched her surroundings. 

“We don’t have any weapons,” Ulrich moaned. “What exactly can we do?”

Yumi shook her head. “I’m sure we can think of something. Xanadu wasn’t able to tamper with our powers. Come on!”

They sprinted through the mess of black spectres, dodging each creature that hurdled toward them as they ran. He hoped to god Jeremie would fix whatever mess they had been caught in. 

The sound of animalistic screeching filled their ears, and they gave each other a quick glance before shifting to run towards the noise. The sound haunted Ulrich, and he could only wonder what it meant to Odd.

They skidded to a stop to find the jellyfish already having Odd in its clutches. He didn’t know how much time they had left, since Jeremie wasn’t there with the timer to tell them. They needed to act fast.

“Watch my back,” Yumi ordered. “I’m going to fling a rock at the monster.”

Ulrich nodded and pulled his fists in a defensive position. Swarms of black creatures danced around them, and Ulrich tried to prepare himself for the hurdling bodies that were going to head his way.

Yumi pressed her fingers to her forehead, and a white glow appeared around a large boulder to their right. At that moment, a spectre flung itself toward them. Ulrich swiftly delivered a punch that skimmed its side, causing it to spiral into the ground a few feet away from the forced change of trajectory. 

More spectres fell from the sky, and Ulrich attempted to keep up. He kicked one of the black balls into a different spectre, watching them explode upon impact, before chopping another that threatened to take off his head. He watched out of the corner of his eye as the boulder stealthily moved through the air, trying to reach its target.

The distraction costed him, and a spectres slammed into his back. He went skidding across the forest floor, his spine aching in protest as his arms burned from the skid. He groaned, and watched as the rock faltered for a moment.

“Be careful,” Yumi chastised, her eyes still closed. 

Ulrich jumped back to his feet, instinctively nodding even though she couldn't see him. He cracked his knuckles before turning his attention to an oncoming spectre. He slammed his fist into its stomach, forcing it to retreat momentarily. He’d never been so grateful for his Pencak Silat training than now.

Suddenly, he heard Yumi yell. He watched as the boulder picked up speed and was thrown at the jellyfish, smashing into its head and crashing through is spindly tentacles. The Scyphozoa screamed in response to her attack, and Ulrich was certain that it had hurt quite a bit.

It’s tentacles retracted slowly, the data it had siphoned spilling out of its broken limbs. Odd fell to the ground limply, and the Scyphozoa remained still for a moment, sizing up its newcomers.

Silently, it slithered away, and Ulrich knew that it was heading back to the Digital Sea.

He supersprinted over to Odd, who remained still on the forest floor. He prodded the boy, shaking his shoulder until a pair of chatoyant eyes fluttered open, and Odd sat straight up.

“Franz Hopper!” he yelped. “He’s evil! He’s Xana-”

“Xanadu’s spectre?” Yumi gave him a quiet smile. “We know. Jeremie warned us and was able to direct us to you before he suddenly went offline.”

Odd blinked, before frowning. “Do you think he’s alright?”

 

Jeremie srinted away from Hopper, moving through the factory labyrinth. He really wished they had used the free time they had to properly explore and map out the many stories and rooms the building seemed to have. He wasn’t entirely certain he was even running in the right direction.

Crackles of electricity filled the air, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He turned just in time to see a bolt of pure electricity heading his way. He ducked his head and pumped his legs faster before turning around again. Franz Hopper was chasing him, his fingertips illuminated with sparks of electricity.

He could hear Aelita yell in the background. In the short time he’d taken to move as far away from the spectre as he could he must have powered through Aelita’s onslaught of angry fists. Aelita wasn’t down for the count, thankfully.

A mass suddenly tackled him from behind. The spectre leapt on top of him, and the two went crashing into the ground as Jeremie collapsed from the sudden weight pushing him toward the cement floor. His head banged against the ground and stars momentarily flooded his vision.

Franz grinned eagerly before pulling at his hair. He gripped his blond locks and yanked his head back up before smashing it into the ground again. An ear splitting ringing began to flood his senses, and Jeremie groaned before digging his nails into the spectres exposed arm.

The areas where he began to pierce skin momentarily glitched out, and Franz hissed in pain. He let go of Jeremie’s head, and the blond boy kicked the spectre’s knee cap as he squirmed away from the monster. Blood matted the side of his bruised face and he could taste the iron in his mouth from biting his tongue when he had been flung.

He crawled away as fast as he could manage. He hated having to deal with spectres; he was no fighter.

A loud scream filled his ears and he watched as Aelita came back, slamming her body into Xanadu’s spectre, the two bodies thrown into the wall as Aelita tackled it.

Electricity flooded the room, purple light bouncing off the rusty metal walls. He heard Aelita groan, stumbling off the creature before it swiped its legs at her ankles, knocking her back off balance.

Before she could fall completely, the spectre grabbed her by the shoulders and picked her up. Jeremie’s eyes widened but he reacted too late; the being swung Aelita at him, and the two collided into each other, his back slamming against an inoperable machine, Aelita lying on top of him.

The breath had been knocked right out of him, and everything suddenly began to sting, needles piercing his skin. He let out a weak gasp as Aelita moaned, shifting awkwardly on top of him.

The monster loomed above them, and electricity began to crackle in the dry air.

 

Ulrich sucked in a breath. “I’m sure he’s fine.”

Odd frowned. “I hope so.”

“We don’t have any weapons to fight the spectres,” Yumi murmured. “I won’t be able to use my telekinesis for extended periods, and I’m not certain how much use either of your powers will be for combat. We can stay on the defense, but we won’t be able to actually destroy them.”

“It’ll take too long before we could finish the job.” Ulrich tapped his fingers on his crossed arms. “And by then, who knows what could happen in the real world.”

“One of us should go back to the real work,” Yumi suggested. “So they can help Jeremie. With Aelita missing, and his radio silence, it’s for the best.”

Yumi began to say something else, but a stiffness filled Odd’s limbs. Her voice melted into white noise, and the scene around him shifted.

It was the factory, the supercomputer room. Jeremie was crawling on the ground, blood dripping from his head. Aelita laid on top of him, blood trailing from a huge gash across her torso. Jeremie seemed terrified.

 _“Aelita,”_ he murmured. 

Franz Hopper leered over them, holding a sharp piece of scrap metal in his hand. In his other, electricity crackled, casting an eerie glow across his face, illuminating his spectacles.

Jeremie’s screams bounced around his skull, echoing in his ear drums.

“Odd?” 

He blinked, and the vision swirled away. The screams did not.

“I’ll go.”

“Are you sure?” There was a pause. Odd knew he needed to be the one to go. His Future Flash might help him be able to save Jeremie and Aelita, and Yumi and Ulrich had more experience in Lyoko anyway. Yumi seemed to notice his resolve. “How are you going to get divirtualized?”

“The old fashioned way!”

Odd grinned before sprinting madly toward the tower. He darted toward the heart of the swarm, watching as the metaphorical eyes of the beasts immediately trained on him.

“Nut job,” Ulrich muttered. Odd grinned, before his attention went back to the buzzing creatures, and regret began to form as he remembered how painful devirtualisation was.

This was probably going to hurt.

Still, in order to take down the spectres, they needed their weapons. And it’d be hard to get them back when their resident tech experts are burnt to a crisp.

A spectre smacked straight into his back. He toppled into the ground, eating dirt as faux grass pricked his skin. He smirked as he slowly began to get back up, preparing for another hit.

His head suddenly began to throb before it was forced back into the ground. A ringing buzzed in the back of his head, and Odd grimaced. He rolled to the side, and began to sit back up. He could feel a migraine coming back on.

The spectres seemed to sense his surrender. He watched as two of them teamed up, and barrelled toward him. 

They darted straight into his chest, and he was knocked into the ground again, loosing all his breath in a swift motion.  
His ribs ached from the massive hit, and he wheezed slightly. One more hit, and he could help Jeremie and Aelita.

He staggered back up, moving to his feet. The buzzing of sentient creatures filled the still air, and he could hear Ulrich and Yumi grunting as they fought off their own attackers. 

A final spectre launched itself straight at the side of his head. He spun slightly before collapsing to the ground, dizzy with being clocked upside the head.

He began to disappear into blue squares, and hoped he’d make it in time.

 

Jeremie and Aelita were running as fast as they could, the monster chasing after them as they tried to make their way back to the computer room. His legs felt like jelly and his head ached so badly.

They swung a door open and sprinted down a small hallway that opened into a bigger room. He smirked, realising they had successfully made it back to the supercomputer.

Well, successfully was a bit too generous.

He skidded to a stop, prepared to jump into the seat and begin typing. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and he swung away from the seat to find Hopper flinging himself on top of him, something glittering in his hands.

There was a yell, a splash of blood, and Jeremie found himself on his back, dazed and feeling something heavy press against his chest.

Aelita was wrapped around his body, hugging him close to her chest. Blood pooled underneath her, dripping onto and staining his clothing. A large gash had been lacerated into her torso, jagged flesh jutting out as blood began to flow.  
Jeremie felt bile rise in his stomach, a sick feeling clawing it’s way up his throat. 

She took a hit for him.

Shit. 

“Aelita,” he murmured.

A shadow loomed over the two, and he glanced up in time to see Hopper peering down at them. A piece of metal was twirled in his hand, and Jeremie recognised it as the same piece he had used in the very beginning to attack him with. 

Electricity sparked from his fingertips, casting eerie shadows across his face as a maniacal, much too wide smile stretched over his lips. 

Suddenly, a purple blur darted into his vision, tackling the spectre to the ground. Odd sat on top of the spectre, and the two began to wrestle on the floor for control.

Jeremie breathed a sigh of relief. Yumi and Ulrich had been able to save him in time, despite not having weapons. 

Shit. They needed their weapons.

He began to peel Aelita off of himself, and she remained eerily silent. She still had a pulse, but at the rate she was losing blood, that pulse might not last too much longer. She lulled to the side limply as he pulled away from her, and his lunch threatened to come back up again.

He climbed into the chair and opened up a window. Codes filled the screen, and he raced through each of them, trying to understand how Xanadu had destroyed the program for their weapons. What exactly had Xanadu tampered with?

A choking sound filled his ears. Franz seemed to have won the wrestling contest, and had managed to get on top of him. He was treating to strangle him, Odd’s face turning a bright shade of red as he clawed at his arms.

Jeremie hesitated, not sure if he should interfere. 

Odd’s nails seemed to cut in deep, and he scratched the spectre, causing it’s arms to glitch out as jagged marks covered its skin. It’s hold on him loosened, and he kicked the spectre in the chest, knocking him off of him.

It seems he has it handled.

Jeremie sifted through the files and began to type as rapidly as he could. He needed to undo Xanadu’s mess, now that he had figured out the problem.

Electricity sparked in the background as his fingers flew across the keys. He needed to be quick, because there was only so much time before someone else got devirtualized, and they would fail to deactivate the tower, and Aelita only had so much time…

He slammed the final key a little too hard before hitting enter. He placed the headset over his ears and grinned slightly into the mix. “You’re weapons have been restored.”

He could hear Yumi cheer and Ulrich grunt in response. Hopefully, they’ll manage to get the job done quickly.

There was a loud thud, and he watched as Odd flew into the wall on the other side of the room, groaning as he smacking into the metal panelling. Ouch.

Jeremie moved out of his seat, prepared to go back to fighting now that he had fulfilled his end. 

Hopper grinned manically at him, desperation clawing at the spectre. He wasn’t able to stop Jeremie from fixing the programs, but if he could manage to kill him, the fix would have been pointless.

The spectre charged at him, and Jeremie slid to the side, plastering himself against the wall to avoid the maniac. Hopper spun on his heels, abruptly skidding to a halt, and threw a punch Jeremie hadn’t been expecting.

A sharp crack resonated in the air as Jeremie’s nose broke, and he bit back a swirl of pain as he stumbled. Blood began to dribble down the side of his face, and he grimaced at the pain.

He tried to kick the monster, but it ducked and tried to swipe his ankles to send him off his feet. Jeremie jumped just in time and sent a punch to the man’s fist. His body phased out for a plot second before his hand grabbed Jeremie’s wrist.

Jeremie sharply kicked his knee cap just as electricity began to spark. Xanadu quickly dropped his arm and Jermie began to back up. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Odd bending over Aelita. He had shimmied off his purple top, now only wearing his pink tank top, and was pressing it against her side, trying to construct the blood flow. He was trying to tie it off, his fingers clumsy from nerves and from fighting.

The distraction costed him. The spectre rammed into him, and he was sent toppling to the ground, his head slamming against the metal floor. Xanadu climbed on top, his fingers tangled in his hair. He slammed his head back into the floor, and a ringing filled Jeremie’s ears as stars faded into his vision.

He slammed him again, and everything ached as the migraine that formed earlier began to increase. He clawed at his face, but the spectre quickly pinned down his arms, and slammed his head down for a third time.

Electricity crackled and danced on his skin. Everything went hazy as his body became overloaded with electrical impulses. He screamed this time, not bothering to bite back the immense pain he was in.

Odd sprinted into view, flying through the air for a moment as he tried to tackle the spectre. Electricity traveled through Odd as well, and he let out an ear-splitting screech as the voltages suddenly increased.

He felt like he was being struck by purple lightning.

He was in so much pain he hadn’t noticed Aelita had moved from her position on the ground to near the chair. Sometime during the ruckus, she had woken back up and had crawled her way toward the chair. The head set was settled on the top of her matted, bloodied hair, and her eyes held a wild gleam to them as her finger smashed against the enter key. 

Yumi and Ulrich must have completed the job.

“Bye bye, motherfucker! Return to the past now!”

White flooded the room, and the immense pain was replaced by a tingling sensation. Odd dropped to the ground just as the white swept through the country, the sound of his body smacking against the ground the last sound he heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol sorry for the wait this chapters a little longer because I wanted to wrap up Franz Hopper’s asse kicking.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They discuss Xanadu, Sissi makes a strange appearance, and Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi have to pull of a heist in a hospital

It was dead silent between the five of them, sitting in Jeremie’s dorm room, fidgeting in anticipation for the needed discussion. Somehow, they managed to cram themselves in the small room, and they were all buzzing with unspoken thoughts.

“This is getting bad.” Jeremie bit his lip, grimacing at his understatement.

“You could say that again,” Yumi muttered, flicking her hair out of her eyes, repositioning herself as she leaned against the closed door.

“Xanadu is continuously growing stronger and stronger. It took three of us to fight him.” Jeremie rubbed his temple, glancing at Odd and Aelita. The two appeared to be in good health, but the large slash against Aelita’s stomach and the electrocution he and Odd went through continued to nag at him despite the fact that the return to the past could mend any injury.

Aelita nodded. “From what I understand, Xanadu’s power has suddenly spiked within just a few weeks. We need to understand the causes of this. Is he siphoning energy from an outside source? How?”

“I thought he couldn’t access the real world without our knowledge?” Yumi frowned. “Once we defeat him, he has to wait a while before he can attack so he can store up power. It takes a lot of energy to go into the real world. And then when we perform a return to the past or when we just defeat him, all of the energy he did manage to steal was then put back.”

Aelita folded her hands in her lap. “I’m not sure. Xanadu doesn’t seem to be siphoning energy from any major outside sources, considering there hasn’t been any reports. And you’re right- all of the energy he steals during his attacks returns once the tower is deactivated.”

“Then where the hell is he getting the power from?” Ulrich grumbled.

“It has to be internal,” Jeremie declared. “The supercomputer must be giving him some sort of way to gain energy. Somehow, he’s getting a boost from the inside.”

Aelita frowned. “What could be causing that?”

Jeremie ran his fingers through his hair. “I have no idea. As far as I know, there’s no way Xanadu could be using energy from within the supercomputer, but the power surge is pretty obvious, and it’s really the only option that makes sense.”

“As fascinating as this is,” Odd began, not understanding any of what they just said, “I’ve got a question about the actual attack.”

“Shoot.”

“How come Xanadu didn’t tamper with our powers? He took away our weapons, so why not Yumi’s telekinesis or Ulrich’s superspeed?”

Jeremie hummed, and Odd didn’t miss the way he glanced at Aelita for approval before answering. “There’s a couple of reasons, although they’re mostly based on theories.”

“And they are…?” Yumi raised her brows.

“First off, your powers are apart of your DNA. Xanadu couldn’t access them unless he used the Scyphozoa, because only it has the power to manipulate data on such a scale. Even I can’t really mess with your DNA, unless you’re in a waytower and I have at least a few hours. DNA is extremely complicated and much different from actual computer codes no matter if it’s translated into those computer codes. That’s why he keeps sending the Scyphozoa after you instead of manually taking the computer to do it- it’s a lot more difficult and hard to access unless under the right conditions.”

Odd rubbed his chin. That actually made sense. He thinks.

“And the second reason,” Aelita continued. “Is that your powers don’t actually come from the supercomputer.”

There was a long, long pause. Silence stretched on, before Ulrich finally broke it. “I don’t understand. I thought our powers came from the supercomputer as like, a defense mechanism?”

Aelita ran her fingers through her already dishevelled hair. “That’s what we thought. But from our data analysis over the energy fluctuation of Lyoko, we’ve discovered that a different source has been giving you your powers. It’s located at the bottom of the digital sea, and its energy levels are nearly off the charts. It’s origin, however, isn’t from the supercomputer, but we’re not sure where from at the moment.”

“Once we unlock Franz Hopper’s diary, we should be able to learn more about the mysterious energy that’s been giving you guys your powers.” 

Odd remembered Jeremie mentioning this to him before. It had just been a theory about the energy, but now it seems that they have the data to back it up. Weird.

“Do you think that has anything to do with Xanadu being after me? Like, do you think the energy source might mean anything to him?”

“I kind of doubt it.” Jeremie folded his hands together and leaned on them. “If that was the case, then he’d be after Yumi and Ulrich, and attempting to go through the digital sea to find it.”

“Honestly, we have no way of knowing what it wants with you until it steals your data. Otherwise, we’re in the dark.” Aelita looked slightly miffed at not understanding Xanadu’s plot.

Odd blinked. “Why don’t we just let him take it? I mean, why not?”

“Because, I don’t know, you’ll _die_ , and I’d rather avoid that.” Jeremie shook his head. “Xanadu’s trying to steal all of your DNA. If he succeeds, you’ll die instantly.”

Oh. Odd forgot about that part. “Well, that’s a bit of a problem.”

“Even if you wouldn’t die,” Yumi began. “It’s still be a bad idea. Xanadu doesn’t do anything without a good reason. Whatever you have seems to be important to him, and he seems to be trying to get it at all costs. Clearly, it’s nothing good. It wouldn’t be a good idea to just let him take it.”

Jeremie nodded. “Whatever it is, it’s likely going to give him more power, and that’s the last thing he needs at the moment.”

“Okay, okay, bad idea.” Well, now Odd just felt real dumb. “Scrap that. If you decode Franz Hopper’s diary, do you think it’ll know anything about why Xanadu’s after me?”

There was a pause. “Honestly? We have no idea. We hope it could give us a reason, but since the diary likely dates back ten or so years ago, I kind of doubt Franz could help us.”

Odd stuffed his hands in his pocket. “Go figure.”

“We still aren’t even sure how to decode it,” Aelita admitted. “It’s a slow process.”

“Well, I’m sure you Einstein’s can figure it out. If there’s anyone I trust on the job, it’s you two.”

 

It was the dead of night later that day, and Odd was laying on his bed. The group had partners soon after in favour of Jeremie and Aelita working on the decoding, Yumi and Ulrich heading to Pencak Silat practice, and Odd messing around in theatre club.

He rubbed his head idly, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. A Future Flash has woken him up. They always made him wake up with a vague sense of fear, and he wasn’t ever sure why.

He glanced at his nightstand. He deliberately avoided the numbers on his clock and instead stared at the doll laying on its back, it’s beady eyes matching his gaze with a mischievous glint. It was Mister Puck.

Odd wondered if he should give it back to Aelita. He’d kept it even after they had found those diaries. It felt a bit too late to give him back, and he had kind of grown attached into it. His sisters used to tear up any of his toys when he was younger, and while he always retaliated by stealing or breaking their toys, it wasn’t as satisfying.

Suddenly, the doorknob began to turn. Odd’s adrenaline spiked as uncertainty filled his veins. He’d forgotten to lock the door.

Light blasted from the hallway as the door squeaked open, and Odd jumped to his feet, balling his fists. Ulrich was lying on his bed, still asleep.

Sissi stood in the doorway, and Odd’s anxiety dropped. “Oh, it’s you.”

She pushed her way into his room, walking in an awkward, robotic gait. He squinted at her as she completely ignored his presence, and headed straight for his desk.

“Uh, yoo-hoo.” He followed her, slightly annoyed at her lack of response. “You can’t just barge in here and start digging through my stuff. I know your father didn’t teach you any manners, but this is ridiculous.”

She rifled through his backpack, pulling out a pencil and paper. She continued to ignore him, and began to scribble. 

Odd stood next to her, watching. Symbols and numbers appeared on the sheet at a ridiculous pace, her hand moving back and forth so quickly it was supernatural.

Supernatural...

Xanadu?

He lightly pushed her shoulder with one hand, trying to figure out what was going on, hoping for some sort of reaction. It was unnerving to find the shrill jabs missing from their interaction. She ignored the slight shove and continued to scribble.

She wasn’t… attacking him. So he clearly wasn’t a target. Or was this a diversion of some sort to fake him out and then suddenly knock him out to surprise and weaken him so she could steal his data?

It would be a weird attack, but Odd didn’t know what else to think. Maybe Xanadu just need to take an art break and draw some pretty pictures to relieve his stress?

There was shuffling, and Odd watched as Ulrich slowly woke up. He took out his earplugs, and Odd finally realised why he didn’t wake up with all the racket Sissi was making. Why the hell did he sleep with those in?

Ulrich sat up and glanced over at Odd before immediately darting to Sissi. He remained silent for a moment, before finally saying, “Odd, I don’t mind that you date so many people, but I already told you I better not wake up one night in my room to find you guys fucking.”

“Oh, are we having sex, Sissi? You should have told me. I would have turned on some music for the mood.” He rolled his eyes as Sissi continued to write. “Trust me Ulrich, it may surprise you, but even I have standards. And I had nothing to do with her coming in here. She just… invited herself inside.”

Ulrich blinked, finally registering that _Sissi_ was in their room. “What the hell?”

“What’s all the fuss in here?” A large figure loomed in the doorway, blocking the light that seeped in. Odd and Ulrich jumped from surprise, not hearing the man’s loud footsteps.

A very unamused and disappointed Jim stood, crossing his arms. “What exactly are you three up too? And what are you doing here Sissi? You know girls aren’t allowed in the boys dormitory, especially at night.”

Sissi remained silent, and continued towork. Odd glanced at her, staring at her eyes. If she was possessed, surely Xanadu’s symbol would flash.

“Young lady, I’m talking to you.” He moved toward her and put his hand on her shoulder. She dropped the pencil, watching it as it bounced off the desk and rolled onto the floor, remaining stone still.

“Uh, I think she’s sick Jim.” He didn’t want to cover for Sissi, but she didn’t have the symbol, and something was clearly up. “She doesn’t look very well. Maybe you should take her to the infirmary.”

Jim looked ready to say something before he glanced at what she was writing. “Hm. Yeah, maybe. She does look pretty pale. But how do I know you guys weren’t plotting something together?”

“Do you really think we’d invite Sissi in here for the fun of it?” Ulrich dryly asked.

Jim conceded. “Alright. Come on Sissi.”

He tried to steer her out of the room, and it was at that moment Odd noticed all of the students crowded around their room. The ruckus must have woken them up.   
Jeremie stood to the right, a pensive expression on his face. 

“Alright, go back to bed, nothing to see here.” Jim ordered as he pushed through the students with Sissi in tow. “Scram!”

The students reluctantly dispersed. Jeremie sent him a questioning look, and Odd mouthed ‘morning’ to him. Jeremie understood, and quietly walked off.

The door shut, and Ulrich and Odd were left alone. 

 

“So Sissi broke into your guy’s room and started to write something on a piece of paper and refused to speak?” Jeremie rubbed his eyes. It was breakfast time, and he didn’t really want to deal with Sissi’s shenanigans so early in the morning.

“Yeah! I have the paper right here!” Odd slid a folded piece of notebook paper toward him, shrugging. “I have no idea what she was trying to do.”

He glanced it over, lines of symbols and numbers filling his vision. A vague sense of familiarity filled him, and he was suddenly overwhelmed with the realisation of what this was.

“It’s the key!” He was bouncing with unrestrained excitement. “Holy shit!”

“Key?”

“Franz Hopper’s diaries! It’s the key to decoding them!”

Odd eyes widened. “Holy shit indeed.”

Yumi grinned. “Finally! But how did Sissi know them?”

Jeremie frowned, and began to rummage through his backpack. He flipped the lid, and began to run through a few algorithms Odd didn’t recognise nor understand. 

“A tower’s been activated.” There was a breath of silence. “But it doesn’t seem to have been activated by Xanadu…”

“What? Who else could activate a tower?”  
Another beat of silence. “I’m not sure, but we need to check this out. First, we’re going to need to nab Sissi. The key is incomplete. Jim must have stopped her before she could finish.”

Ulrich pursed his lips. “She’s been hospitalised. Apparently, she’s been extremely unresponsive and seems to be in some sort of vegetated state.”

“Are you sure that isn’t normal? She’s always been a vegetable in class.” Odd didn’t even bother suppressing the insult.

“Well, apparently it’s enough of a difference for her to be hospitalised.” Jeremie sighed. “We’ll just have to break her out, I guess. I need to talk with Aelita. Do you guys think you can handle it?”

Yumi rubbed her temples. “Yeah, sure. Because moving a vegetable like patient from a hospital to the factory is a piece of cake.”

“Great!” Jeremie responded, not missing Yumi’s sarcasm but choosing to ignore it. “See you soon.”

Ulrich sighed.

 

They reached the hospital fairly quickly. Jim was waiting for them just past the reception, looking alarmed as he paced around, staring at the ground. He heard them approach and frowned.

“Oh, it’s you three.” He glanced at them with suspicion. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re looking for Sissi,” Yumi answered. “We heard she’s been hospitalised.”

“Yeah. She’s become completely unresponsive. She’s like a vegetable! Well, more than usual.” He glanced around. “Uh, that stays between you and me. But why are you visiting Sissi?”

“We may not see eye to eye on a lot of things,” Odd flippantly began. “But I do like squabbling with her and it’d be a shame to miss out on our usual fights. I just wanted to see her before I start to miss her and her irritating voice too terribly. That stays between you and me, though, right?”

Jim raised a brow, but sighed. “I don’t see why not… her rooms 211.”

Odd grinned at his two friends as they began to head toward the room. “I told you guys my Della Robbia charm would work.”

“If that’s what helps you sleep at night,” Ulrich muttered, and Odd stuck his tongue out at him. Yumi rolled her eyes but smiled at the two as the left the elevator the had entered while walking. Room 211 wasn’t hard to find, and the three pushed the door open to find Mr. Delmas fretting over Sissi, who was staring blankly up at the ceiling.

Delmas twisted around and glanced at the three. “Oh, hello kids. What are you doing here?”

“Just concerned over a friend.” Odd glanced at Sissi. “Do we know what’s wrong with her?”

“No, the doctors are completely baffled by her. They’ve never seen a case like this before, and not one as severe.” Delmas sounded tired, and Odd felt kind of sorry for the guy.

“Weird…” Yumi frowned. “We’ll wait outside until you’re finished. We don’t mean to bother you, sir.”

“Ah, it’s no problem.” He checked his watch. “The nurse will be in here to check on her vitals, and then I’m sure you can come inside to… Do whatever it is you need to do.” He paused. “You guys are friends with her?”

“We don’t see eye to eye on much, but we’re not estranged enough to where we’d leave her alone. Besides, I kind of admire her.” Odd shrugged. Delmas would be easy to butter up considering he loved praise and he loved his daughter. A combination of both, even in the bare minimum he gave, would satisfy the older man.

“I see.” He turned back to Sissi, and the three teens left the doorway.

“We need to come up with a plan,” Ulrich mumbled. They arrived at the lounge, and Odd eyed the soda machine greedily.

Yumi nodded. “We’ll have to wait for the nurse to arrive anyway. And I’d hate to kidnap her right in front of her father.”

Odd shrugged. “I think that'd be a lot harder than you think.”

He walked over to the soda machine and slipped in a dollar. Yumi and Ulrich continued to speak in low voices, and Odd punched in the right number. He watched as the soda was about to picked up, before the machine suddenly froze. He frowned, and kicked the machine with his foot. He paid for that soda, and he sure as hell was going to get it.

It remained still, the soda jammed, and Odd groaned. The machine on campus never worked. Was there no vending machine in all of France that was actually functional?

Suddenly, the can dropped out of the machine. He blinked, and decided not to complain. He slipped his hand inside and pulled out the can, grinning.

A numbness filled his limbs, and his vision swirled suddenly. They were at the factory, Jeremie watching as Sissi typed at a superhuman speed on the computer, looking like a kid in a candy store in Christmas. Aelita was nowhere in sight, but the distant sound of metal clanging was easy to pick up on.

Sissi stopped typing. Jeremie glanced at her in confusion before his eyes widened. She began to seizure, vibrating at a high speed and slumping over in her chair. Jeremie leapt into action and glanced over the codes and began to panic.

_“Xanadu’s trying to take over the green tower!”_

“Odd?” 

The haze in his eyes dissipated, and he noticed Yumi and Ulrich’s concerned expressions were suddenly a lot closer than they had been earlier. The soda can laid on the ground, and Odd realised he must have dropped it on accident.

“I- It was a Future Flash.” Two pairs of expectant eyes were trained on him, and he opened his mouth to continue when distant shouts interrupted him. All three teens shared a look before springing into action, heading toward the source of commotion.

They skidded to a stop in room 211, and found Delmas passed out on the ground, his hair sticking in strange places like he had been electrocuted. A nurse with shoulder length black hair stood over Sissi, a ball of electrical energy spinning in her palm.

Ulrich reacted first, sprinting at a superhuman speed. Odd didn’t even realise he had moved until he was suddenly tackling the nurse, the two crashing against the ground as the nurse let out an inhuman yell. 

Yumi and him rushed toward Sissi. If there was anytime to make a move, it’d be now while there was a distraction. Xanadu really knew how to pick his moments.

They picked her up as Ulrich and the obvious spectre began to wrestle around on the ground. Yumi took the lead as they moved as fast as they could away from the scene, trying to use the time Ulrich was buying them.

Odd spotted a wheelchair and he skidded to a halt, nearly dropping Sissi. Lord knows she didn’t need any more brains cells damaged. Yumi seemed to read his mind and they placed her in it before   
Yumi took the handle bars, gripping them tightly before sprinting quickly. Odd matched her pace, glancing around them in case there were any more surprise attacks.

They nearly mowed over nurses and doctors that bustled about the halls, and they quickly began to near the exit of the building. Disgruntled workers moved out of their way, and it took a few moments for them to process that they were in all senses stealing a patient.

Ulrich appeared next to them, and an orange trail of light momentarily appeared behind him. He was panting slightly, and his hair was tousled. “I don’t know how long it would take for her to catch up with us, so we better hurry.”

A blur appeared in the corner of his eye and Odd felt himself shoved forward. His chin smashed against the ground, his face scraping the cement as they exited into the street, the sounds of yelling for them to stop turning into white noise. Odd let out a string of curses as the woman pinned him down.

Electricity crackled in the air, and a sudden heat emanated onto his back. 

Well, that wasn’t long at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol sorry I’m so late I’m doing nanowrimo and uh it’s time consuming
> 
> anyway y’all know where this is going I’m sure but don’t be so certain


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The spectre is fought, and Jeremie's hypothesis of who the ally is will be tested.

Hands wrapped around his throat and Odd grimaced as the nurse began to choke him. He struggled against the body pinning him to the ground, trying to land any blow he could. He jutted his knee into her as he felt her shuffle her weight around that area, and her grip loosened just enough for him to punch her off.

He caught Yumi and Ulrich hesitating, looking ready to bolt off toward the factory but afraid to leave him behind. He grinned and sent them a wink.

“Head on without me!” He yelled. “I’ll be fine.”

There was a brief moment where they lingered, Ulrich watching him with an expression Odd couldn’t begin to understand. Finally, they took off, Yumi pushing a vacant Sissi further away and Ulrich ran after her, his fists tightened into balls.

Odd grinned at the nurse. “I guess it’s just you and me, huh?”

He took off, trying to lure the spectre away from the hospital. They were really going to need a return to the past, but Odd was hoping to minimise the damage as much as he could. From Jeremie’s distrust of government officials, it’d be best to not alert the police to whatever was going on anyway. Last thing they needed was their involvement.

He was thrown to the ground once again, the sounds of yelling from doctors and security guards no longer an alarm for danger. A fist connected to his cheek and for a split second, stars danced along the outer rims of his vision. He smacked his head against ground, and let out a yelp as rough hands pushed him into the ground. The buzz of electricity filled the air, and Odd winced at the thought of an electrocution.

He tried to move him limbs but the nurse had planted herself on top of him, her hold firm. He could feel the hairs on his skin straighten. Desperation took control and he bashed his head into hers, feeling their skulls smash into each other. He groaned as the pain hit his forehead like a truck crashing into him, wrecking all senses other than pain. He’s going to have migraines for weeks.

It worked, despite the immense pain. The nurse was caught off guard, grimacing as she felt the pain, and Odd was able to wriggle himself out of her grip. She clawed after him, her nails slicing into his ankles as he slithered away, freshly formed scratches drawing blood.

He took off again, wanting to buy himself (and the others, of course) some time. He wasn’t much for plans, but playing cat and mouse with a homicidal nurse was getting old.  
His head ached and the world around him seemed to blur slightly. From all the beatings his head had taken, he wouldn’t be surprised if he had the beginnings of a concussion forming. He could hear the blood rushing from his head and focused on that, trying to remain aware.

Suddenly, all sense of balance was lost, and he collapsed onto the ground, his vision swirling as a numbness filled his limbs. God damnit, now was not the time for a Future Flash.

He was back at the factory, and Jeremie and Aelita were fighting the nurse who he was currently dealing with. Jeremie sent a hard punch to the nurse's face' causing her to stumble from surpise. Odd himself was scrambling toward the supercomputer, fingers wildly pressing on the keys as he reached it. Something didn't feel right, however... He didn't seem to be quite there.

Odd couldn't describe it, and couldn't understnad it.

Aelita grinned as Jeremie sook his fist. _"Nice hit."_

His vision slowly swirled back to the brown dirft that his face was buried in, and he scrambled back up. The nurse was going to end up at the factory? Odd was clealry consious and alive at the factory as well, so how the hell did they get there? And why was he the one at the supercomputer? 

The thoughts and confusion distracted him.

He made it three feet before a kick to the head stopped him in his tracks. He stumbled back hard, nearly falling back down before regaining his balance. The nurse stared at him, the bullseye symbol flashing as she watched him for a moment.

He wasn’t sure what to make of her. Her stance was still hostile, but she watched him like an entomologist would study a new species of roaches. He blinked and they stood like that, watching each other, before a fist barreled into his stomach.

He doubled over coughing, taken by surprise. Electricity crackled in the air, her fingers sparking with charges.

Odd grinned. “Well, aren’t you just amped to continue this fight?”

 

Jeremie bit his lip, watching the screen in earnest. It was taking his friends a long time to get here, and he’d accounted for their location being the hospital. He drummed his fingers on the desk, thinking he should call them. What was taking them so long?

Aelita was in the middle of teaching class. It would be a while before she arrived. He didn’t like being so alone.

The elevator opened, and Jeremie’s hands turned to white knuckled fists. Nobody used the elevator.

Yumi appeared, looking out of breath, and Ulrich slid down the rope behind him. Jeremie glanced at the wheelchair and Sissi, before breaking out into a grin.

“Fantastic! I’ll send you to Lyoko.” He paused. “Where’s Odd?”

Ulrich looked disgruntled. “The nurse went after Sissi, but Odd’s trying to hold her off.”

Jeremie pursed his lips. The attacks were becoming stronger. He didn’t want to doubt his friends, but he also didn’t want to underestimate Xanadu. Odd wasn’t going to last long. “I see. Head to the scanners.”

They bounded up the stairs, and Jeremie glanced at Sissi. She stood up, staring vacantly at her surroundings, and emotion Jeremie couldn’t read perched on her brows as she remained strangely quiet. 

He typed up the codes for the virtualisation, pushing the headset over his ears. His friends’ icons appeared on screen as their cars materialised. He checked for the tower as he began to type up the vehicle program. “Head south west of your current location.”

Two towers were activated, one green and one red. He glanced over at Sissi, who had suddenly appeared behind him, and began to poke him. Was she wanting to code?

He moved over, allowing for her to sit in the chair. She pressed her fingers against the keyboard, and he watched as she began to type with rapid speed. Encryptions upon encryptions flew by on the screen, and he watched in fascination as she worked.

“Tell me something,” he began cautiously. “I’m curious as to if I’m right… Are you Franz Hopper?”

Although she didn’t stop typing, there was a flash in her eyes as she worked. She didn’t respond, but from the glimmer of emotion he received, he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

Ropes swayed behind him, and he saw Aelita appear, sliding down the rope awkwardly. She glanced at Sissi, an amused smile stretching across her features.

“So all my teachings finally paid off,” she crooned. “For someone who never takes notes, I’d say she’s doing pretty well.”

Jeremie shrugged. “Considering Franz Hopper is likely the mastermind behind her, I don’t expect anything less.”

She hummed absently. “No, I suppose you can’t.”

 

Odd ducked, a swirling ball of electricity sailing over his head. He scrambled out of the path of another one, adrenaline rushing through him.

The trips to Lyoko added quite a few more benefits than Odd had realised. They gave him an increased flexibility and strength, and also made him more resistant towards electrical attacks. Jeremie had explained one time that the only reason they weren't all fried to a crisp was because of the fact that Lyoko was slowly rewriting parts of their DNA in addition to the added portion of the strange powers.

Still. It didn’t make him immune. If she caught him for too long, he’d be burnt toast.

He dodged another one and moved his hands up in a defensive boxing position. He prayed that he would be able to remember all the lessons his oldest sister had taught him.

He threw a right hook at her, skimming her jaw as she pulled away just a bit to late. He sent another punch to her stomach, this time hitting the mark. She took a step back, and Odd leere, “Yeah, it doesn’t feel so great, huh?”

Her foot jutted out and he was sept off his feet. Before he had a chance to gain his equilibrium, her hands had found his hair and tangled themselves into it. She yanked his head back as he fell before slamming it into a nearby tree. Stars dotted his vision before she threw him to the ground, her foot aiming for his ribcage.

He rolled over just in time to dodge the blow. His headache worsened to ear splitting, and the rolling on made his brain do summersaults as his stomach became tied into knots.

A kick to the shoulder his him hard, knocking him out of his trance. He grimaced and tried to pull himself up. He was a sitting duck, lying on the ground like this, and he refused to give her the upper ground. He needed to make sure she didn't reach the factory. 

She pushed him back down, slamming a foot on top of his chest to keep him down. It felt like a two ton weight was pushing right on his lungs, and hands flailed instinctively to get himself upright. He clawed at the woman’s leg, his nails scraping hard against her, ad the pressure was relieved for a moment. It worked.

Her foot smashed just underneath his chin, and he was forced back into the ground. Fear snaked its way through his veins as she began to straddle him, lowering herself as he reeled from the blow to the head. Electricity crackled and Odd tried to move something, to push her off, purple sparks blinding his vision before tapering off to a crisp white.

 

Jeremie watched as Sissi typed, trying to keep up with her. He desperately wanted to understand what was happening. His eyes flickered back to the map, however, and he frowned. Ulrich was moving farther away from the tower, becoming lured into a trap.

“Ulrich, there’s six spectres heading toward you from the right.”

“Rodger.”

The clicking of keys stopped, and he glanced at Sissi, staring blankly at the keys, her hand frozen mid type. He frowned, staring at the screen, wondering what she was doing.

“Is she broken?” Aelita murmured, before exclaiming, “There!”

“W-what?”

“The green tower, it glitched.” Jeremie frowned, carefully watching it, before noticing Aelita was right. 

Suddenly, Sissi rejuvenated, and continued her stream of coding, as if nothing had occurred. Jeremie wanted to investigate, but with SIssi at the keys, that would be impossible. He and Aelita shared a curious glance before going back to watching her, one eye still trained on the map for abnormalities.

A loud clatter drew their attention. It was in the next room or so over, to the left. That sounded too big to be a sewer rat like Jeremie was hoping it to be.

“I’ll investigate,” Aelita suggested. “Stay here with Sissi. If anything is out there, you’ll be our last line of defense.”

She didn’t bother to wait for Jeremie’s opinion, moving away from the desk too quickly. Jeremie didn’t want to be stuck in here, otherwise alone, anticipating the outcome of whatever happens to Aelita while she’s out of sight. But he did need to look over Sissi, in case anything strange occured.

Silence stretched on for moments, the clicking of keys the only noise in the room as he waited. Had it been a false alarm? The factory was rather old… strange noises echoed all the time.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash. He could hear something heavy slam into the wall next door, and he winced. A fight had broken out.

He was reluctant to stay put. Memories of the last attack ebbed away at his resolve. Aelita’s fatal laceration, Odd and him being electrocuted… 

Sissi suddenly stopped typing again. She began to sort of vibrate, glitching strangely as she twitched uncontrollably. The green tower on the screen grabbed his attention as the colour flickered back and forth between green and red. He began to type frantically, picking up where Sissi left off as she slumped in her seat.

“Xanadu’s trying to take over the green tower!” He had no idea how to stop it. He couldn’t deactivate the tower, considering it wasn’t Xanadu’s, and he had no power do so from the outside. “Ulrich! Yumi! I need you to split so someone can guard the-”

The doors slammed open and Jeremie cut himself off. Aelita was flung into the wall across from him, flying through the air for a moment. She smacked into the metal walling and gave a small groan, trying to recollect herself.

Odd was slung over a young woman’s shoulders, obviously unconscious. Jeremie’s blood ran cold as he made eye contact with the spectre, watching as her eyes met his.

Odd was quickly dropped in favour of fighting him, so it seemed. Xanadu needed to access the computer in order to send Odd to Lyoko, after all, and Jeremie was standing in his way. Jeremie cracked his knuckles as a taunt.

Xanadu pounced after him like a large feline, and he rolled to the side, ducking a punch aimed for his head. He scrambled away from Sissi, trying to draw the attention on him. He didn't want her to be caught in the crossfire; Xanadu likely didn’t want her to reveal the key to Franz Hopper’s diaries.

It didn’t work. Xanadu’s focus landed immediately on Sissi and Jeremie maneuvered away. She was still seizuring in the seat, and Xanadu darted toward her, a manic grin on his face. Taking over the tower was a lot of energy to be burning when he could kill her instead, he supposed.

A strange gas began to seep out of Sissi. Jeremie watched in stunned confusion as it blew out of her mouth, hovering in the air for a few moments. It didn’t look like the typical Xanadu mass. 

It wafered away, and Jeremie watched was it headed straight towards Odd. He grinned slightly, understanding the plan. Franz Hopper had been driven out of Sissi, and was looking for a new host. It was an undesirable description, but accurate.

Xanadu seemed to understand the plan as well. A mechanical growl escaped her mouth, anger twisting onto her features. There wasn’t much Xanadu could do. It was hard to fight fog, after all.

Odd’s eyes snapped open, and Jeremie watched as the fog disappeared. He grinned smugly at Xanadu, who seemed exceedingly frustrated.

Franz Hopper truly was a genius. Xanadu isn’t able to possess any of the Lyoko Warriors due to their over exposure to the components of the supercomputer and Lyoko, which slowly changed their DNA to become resilient to his attacks. Franz Hopper, however, wasn’t actually apart of the supercomputer or Lyoko, and could thus bypass the resilience. Not only that, but choosing to use Odd had been wise, considering Xanadu didn’t seem too keen on killing him off.

It allowed him to finish his encryptions, being protected by Xanadu’s strange attachment to Odd. In theory, Xanadu could eventually take over the tower since Hopper is essentially creating a bridge to the tower, but the energy that would be consumed is immense. While his power supply seemed to be growing, it wasn’t enough to have a spectre and take over the tower, all the while simultaneously fighting Ulrich and Yumi.

There was a pause, as if the parties were unsure of what to do now that everything’s changed. 

Xanadu let out a roar of frustration before spinning around to face Jeremie. He roundhouse kicked him, his foot connecting with his nose, and Jeremie could feel a bone snap as he stumbled backwards, completely taken by surprise. His hands flew up to his nose, and he could feel a trickle of blood trail down his face as his nose throbbed.

Xanadu zeroed in on him, throwing a punch to his stomach. Jeremie tried to move out of the way, resulting in the spectre’s fist skimming his right ribs. The nurse jutted out her leg, tripping Jeremie as he was trying to dodge, and his balance disappeared from under him, the ground following suit. He hit the ground with a thud, not having enough time to move his hands from his nose to catch himself.

Xanadu’s hands lit up with purple electricity, her face shadowed in bright lighting as it filled the room. The buzz of her charged fingers echoed in the dry winter air, adnf Jeremie through up his arms in defense, trying to brace himself.

He heard a loud smack as a body hit another, and felt something on his chest grow heavy. Aelita had tackled the spectre, essentially causing them all to create a large dogpile. Jeremie was thankful but was now concerned with being crushed to death.

Xanadu and Aelita began to wrestle and Jeremie tried to wriggle himself free from underneath them. He caught movement in the corner of his eye and found Odd moving across the room, walking toward the computer. It was strange to watch, his movements robotic instead of languid, his face alarmingly blank, his vacant eyes focused solely on the monitor. Sissi wasn’t stirring from where she had passed out, and Jeremie was hoping she’d remain unconscious for a while more; he really wasn’t in the mood to explain the situation they were in.

He got free and stumbled back to his feet, now having the high ground. He swiftly delivered a kick to Xanadu’s head as Aelita became pinned underneath, and was awarded with Aelita’s grin as she kneed Xanadu’s stomach while he was distracted. Xanadu rolled off of her and they all soon became standing, Aelita and Jeremie huddling together and Xanadu inched away, wiping its mouth of black matter. The sound of keys clicking as Odd typed echoed in the room for a moment, silence overwhelming them as a beat passed.

Xanadu suddenly shot toward the tow, and they instinctively moved back, dodging his charge. He kept going, and it took a moment for them to realise they weren’t the target. Odd was.

Xanadu tackled Odd to the ground, who had been standing near the chair since it was occupied by Sissi. There was a loud clang as they both hit the floor, and Jeremie and Aelita rushed to pull the monster back. Firm hands were wrapped around Odd’s neck, and the two seemed to be in a stare off, Odd’s vacant eyes boring into Xanadu’s frustrated symbols.

Silently, Jeremie wondered if Xanadu would change tactics. Would he be willing to kill Odd? Is Franz Hopper’s diaries full of information Xanadu doesn’t want them to have access to, no matter the cost? Or was whatever he needed from him too important to waste?

Odd’s knee collided with the nurses adominon, but Xanadu didn’t seem to react. His hadns only seemed to tighten in repsonse instead of loosen. Aelita charged toward the spectre, looking especially unnerved. Xanadu let one hand go of Odd to send a ball of electricity her way. 

Aelita dodged, just barely ducking out of the way. Odd took this opportunity to his advantage and suddenly smashed his head against Xanadu’s skull. Xanadu’s grip loosened, and Odd was able to knee his chin before worming his way out of his clutches as Xanadu reeled from the sudden blow. 

He clambered back to the computer in that strange, robotic fashion before typing once more, fingers rapidly moving across the keys. Xanadu scrambled back up and looked ready to go after him before Jeremie sent a hard punch to his jaw.  
His knuckles ached slightly from the hit, feeling as if they’d connected with marble instead of flesh. 

Aelita grinned. “Nice hit.”

Suddenly, Jeremie could hear the scanner door open. He glanced up the stairs and found Ulrich tumbling out of the scanner, looking worse for wear. He grimaced. 

Xanadu took the distraction and grabbed his arm before kneeing his stomach. Jeremie doubled over and a punch to his check sent his sprawling to the floor. Aelita rushed in, jumping on top of the spectre, letting out a hearty, “Banzai!”

There was a pattering of steps, and Jeremie watched as Ulrich quickly joined the fray, tacking the nurse as he and Aelita created a dogpile. Electricity suddenly sparked, and bolts surged through the air at random angles. Aelita and Ulrich let out yelps of pain as they were electrocuted, thair short hair sticking up as Xanadu gripped their arms.

Jeremie jumped in, trying to punch the spectre. Xanadu shoved Ulrich towards them, causing the two to go flying backward. Just as they crashed into the ground, Aelita was flung on top of them, and they let out a collective groan in pain from the electrocution and the bodies now lying on top of them.

Jeremie could blearily make out Xanadu stalking Odd, who was still typing. Odd wasn’t even paying attention to him, focusing solely on the screen, which seemed to irritate Xanadu. 

Before Xanadu could reach out to grab him, Odd whirled toward him, that vacant look in his eyes as he faced the monster. The spectre suddenly froze in place, no longer advancing on the boy. It began to glitch, and Jeremie grinned at the realisation. The tower was deactivated!

Mechanically, in a voice that sounded garbled with static, Odd said, “Return to the past now.”

With a flourish of his finger, the enter key was pressed. The world went white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep.
> 
> Does any of this make sense?


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not Code Lyoko without some unnecessary drama sprinkled in.

“We can finally decode the diaries now that we have Franz Hopper’s key!” Jeremie couldn’t contain his excitement even if he wanted to.

Odd grinned. “Yeah, all thanks to me, apparently.”

“How does that even work?” Yumi asked. “How could Franz Hopper possess Odd if Xanadu can’t?”

“You see, when you all transfer to the supercomputer, your DNA changes and begins to build immunity towards Xanadu as a defense to stop the spread of a virus. However, my father isn’t a part of Xanadu or the supercomputer, so none of you have immunity towards him. He isn’t connected to the supercomputer, and therefore, your DNA wasn’t prepared to block him like it is with Xanadu.” Aelita frowned. “Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.” Odd slid his hands in his pockets. “I’ve always wondered why Xanadu doesn’t just like, possess me and get me to Lyoko like that.”

Jeremie grinned. “I think I know why Hopper chose to use Sissi and you as a host?”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. You both have big heads.”

Odd huffed as his friends chuckled. “I save the day, and this is what I get?”

“Technically, it was all my father,” Aelita answered with a giggle. “But either way, the files can now be processed and decrypted. We’ll have access to an immense amount of data over the world of Lyoko and Xanadu and we may learn what happened to my father.”

“What exactly did happen today, anyway?” Ulrich asked. “Franz Hopper is on Lyoko now?”

“We have a theory that Franz Hopper has always been here. You see, when he disappeared ten years ago, we think he transferred himself to Lyoko. He must have found a way to stop Xanadu and shut down the supercomputer, which trapped him inside. When we reactivated it, Xanadu and Hopper were reactivated as well.”

“But Hopper doesn’t have an avatar?” Yumi frowned. “If he did, surely you’d have known since the beginning that he was there? And why haven’t we ever seen him around?”

“We think that after being stuck on Lyoko for ten years caused him to sort of… lose his body. The scanners may have malfunctioned or he had simply lost the ability to be corporeal. Instead, he’s become this massive energy blob. But he’s still active, he just can’t quite interact with us.”

Odd frowned. “You think he’s just a mass of energy instead of a person? Is that why we can't, like, rematerialize him?”

“Yeah. He needs a body to materialize into, and at the moment, it seems like he doesn’t have one.” 

“Weird,” Ulrich muttered.

“What exactly do you think is in those diaries?” Yumi hummed. “It’s gotta be important since Xanadu didn’t seem to like Hopper helping us decode it.”

“We’re not sure. At this point, it seems to be decoding a bunch of video files. We’re hoping they’re logs over the creation of Xanadu and that they would provide us with any information regarding how he was able to shut off the supercomputer.”

“Videos…?” Odd crossed his arms. “Wasn’t that one weird file you found on the supercomputer a video, too? Do you think it’s related?”

Jeremie drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “Honestly? I kind of doubt it. The encryptions are similar, but not in any way identical. And the timestamp on the one I found doesn’t align at all with Hopper’s disappearance. I doubt Hopper could send us a video file.”

Odd slumped, frowning as he considered his words. Aelita shot him a small smile. “But I suppose we’ll just have to see. Now that we are free from trying to break my father’s code, we can work on that strange fragment.”

Jeremie pushed his glasses farther up his nose, causing the lights to reflect off the sheer surface. Making his eyes glow. “It’s true. I’ve been itching to know what’s on the file, anyway. The encryptions it uses is so familiar, and not just because it partially mimics Franz. Something about it just seems almost uncanny.”

“I’m glad that we got the key,” Yumi began, carefully. “But too many things nearly went wrong in such a high stakes mission. Xanadu’s power keeps increasing, and it’s getting more and more apparent. I still think we should have another person join our team.”

“Not this again,” Ulrich murmured. “We’re not inviting William.”

“I still don’t understand why not- he’s a nice guy! Are you just jealous of him?”

“I’m not jealous of him. I just don’t trust him! He’s like a snake.”

“You’ve always held such a grudge against him. You’re too biased.”

“As much as I hate to take sides here,” Jeremie began, clearly wanting to dissolve the tension between the two. “Yumi is right. Our manpower here is limited. William would be a really nice addition to the team. If Yumi hadn’t been able to finish the job herself this time, we would have likely been in a world of trouble.”

“He’s not trustworthy,” Ulrich argued, seemingly frustrated. “I just can’t shake the feeling that we shouldn't let him in.”

Aelita frowned. “People always say to trust in your instincts. I don’t have William in any of my classes, so I don’t really know him. This decision would really rest on you guys, but if Ulrich doesn’t find him trustworthy, then I’m not sure we should risk it. We do have more than Xanadu after us, and if William slips up, the government may swoop in and shut us down.”

Yumi pursed her lips. “Well, I knew William, from before I had transferred to Kadic. He’s not going to tell anyone.”

Ulrich opened his mouth to argue, but Jeremie intervened. His meticulous gaze fell on Odd just before he interjected with, “Don’t you have anything to add?”

Odd paused, thinking. “Personally? I don’t give a shit. Sometimes you just gotta trust your gut, but an extra set of hands would be pretty nice. I’m not exactly helping you guys out anymore with Xanadu after me all the time. If anything, I’m kind of getting in the way.”

“You’re not a hindrance,” Ulrich argued. “And we’re doing just fine.”

“Are we?” Yumi huffed. “Xanadu’s power keeps growing, and we still have no idea what’s causing it. We keep having all these close calls. It’s not like back when we first began, where Xanadu’s monsters were small in number and his spectres weren’t as volatile.”

“Alright, alright.” Aelita crossed her arms, stepping between the two. “Jeremie and I need to get back to decoding that weird video file. You guys can settle this later. We’ll call you when the diaries are done being processed.”

Jeremie brightened. “Yes! It shouldn’t take too long to process, but the videos do seem to be rather long… They may be done by tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I think you guys need a rest.”

“Well, now that class is dismissed,” Odd began. “I have a date with detention.”

“Again?” Ulrich’s slight smirk was most certainly noticed. The tense atmosphere that had begun to build had now dissipated, and Odd was grateful. He didn’t like getting in between one of Yumi and Ulrich’s spats. 

“Yeah. I had to skip it last time in favour of breaking Sissi out from the hospital.”

“What happened this time?”

“My Future Flash!” Odd bemoaned, tossing his hands in the air as he walked. They were heading toward the elevator now, as Odd wasn’t too keen on being late to his latest detention, and Aelita and Jeremie had began to focus on the supercomputer. “I completely blanked out in theatre, and so when I got called on by the teacher, I, of course, didn’t know the answer. Apparently, Othello isn’t about pirates.”

Yumi snickered. “Was the Future Flash worth it?”

“Absolutely not! All I predicted was the test grade I’d get back from our chemistry test. I got to watch Mrs. Hertz in real time mark away at my paper.” He rolled his eyes before mimicking her voice. “‘Salt water is not a heterogeneous mixture!’”

Ulrich’s smirk suddenly vanished. “Oh.”

They laughed. “At least Jim’s holding it. He usually conks out after fifteen minutes, so it won’t be too bad.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Odd sighed dramatically. “Maybe the universe isn’t out to get me.”

 

Odd sat in the desk by the window, scribbling on a sheet of notebook paper. Now would be the time to work on his physics homework, but he really was not in the mood for a worksheet over circuits.

Jim’s snoring filled the air, and Odd periodically glanced up. He was trying to draw a caricature of the man, but the teacher kept moving. He contemplated on giving up and instead make an origami swan. Jim was always impressed with his origami skills, and it wouldn’t hurt to be on his good side. Especially with all his mouthing off and those Future Flashes getting in his way...

A chair scraped across the floor, causing Odd’s head to shoot up. William scooted toward him, having been on the other side of the room. He’d been taking a nap not too long ago.

William avoided eye contact with him as he got up. He moved toward the back of the room, and began to sharpen his pencil. Odd watched, wondering why he attracted William’s attention only for him to ignore him.

“So you’re in their gang, hm?”

His words were whispered in passing, his breath hot on his neck. William murmured them to him as he passed by, sitting back in the chair he had brought up next to his desk.

Odd casually glanced at William’s desk, cautiously processing what had been said. It was cluttered with papers, one of which he recognised as the art project. They were to draw a still life, and it seemed William had been drawing Yumi. He was doing a pretty good job, catching her true likeness; she was scowling, but her eyes suggested something playful. 

“What do you mean?” He questioned back as William twirled his freshly sharpened pencil, watching him with guarded eyes. He had asked it so casually Odd didn’t know what to make if it.

“You know what I mean,” he murmured, scratching at the picture of Yumi. “They let you be friends with them, yeah, but you know their secret.”

“Secret?”

“The reason for their disappearances, the injuries, the poor excuses, the strange deja vu- everything.” He rubbed at a spot in the corner, erasing a flyaway pencil mark.“You know what they’re doing.”

“I don’t.”

“I can see it- you’re just like them. You disappear, you get those injuries, you have those poor excuses… and you have that same, haunted look in your eyes like them.” He stared at his paper for a moment before glancing up at Odd, staring into his eyes as if to further demonstrate his point. “Although you seem even more distraught.”

Was he that easy to read, or was William simply the only one who knew? Or for that matter, cared?

“I can’t believe everyone believes they’re involved in some sort of conspiracy,” Odd answered, rolling his eyes. “And I can’t believe you buy into that. Let me guess- you think all those cult rumours are true too, huh?”

William pressed his pencil too hard into the paper, the tip of the pencil breaking slightly under pressure. He was agitated. “I’m not gullible, you know. And frankly, I’m just concerned.”

Odd bit his lip, gently tracing a few more lines in pencil. “Don’t be.”

“I’m concerned that they’d openly invite you into the group and spill everything after knowing you for only a day when they’ve known me for nearly a year.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, William-“

“I suppose,” William interjected. “The question here is, what exactly are you hiding?”

Memories of Sissi asking him that same question flooded back to him. The pencil in his hand snapped from him clenching it too tightly, the sound reverberating in his skull. The pieces fell out of his hand as he suddenly felt a stiffness enter his bones.

Ulrich balled his fists, looking ready to strike. William stood across from him, irritated beyond belief. Odd was standing in between them, uncertain.

_“So you don’t find me trustworthy, Stern?”_ He inquired, hurling his last name like a venomous insult.

Ulrich looked like he was barely able to hold himself back. Odd himself had placed a hand on his shoulder, frowning quietly. _“Cool down, guys.”_

_“No,” _Ulrich muttered, pulling away from Odd. He pushed up the sleeves of his jacket. _“No. Let’s settle this.”_ __

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“Odd?” William’s hand fluttered over his face. Odd snapped back and he sucked in a deep breath. William and Ulrich were going to get into a fight. He couldn’t let that happen. 

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“Yeah, yeah.” 

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“Are you okay?” He paused. “Is it your metabolism or something?” 

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Odd grinned. “I’m flattered you remembered. But nah, just spaced out. It happens.” 

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“Did it happen before you entered Ishiyama’s gang?” 

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So they were still back to that. Odd rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry William, but this isn’t my secret to tell. If you want more information, you’re going to have to talk to the others.” Maybe they could get William to join the gang if William expressed interest? 

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“So there is something going on? And you were told?” 

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Odd paused. “Well, it was more like I stumbled into it.” 

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“What exactly did you stumble into?” 

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Odd swiped one last stroke, finishing the drawing of Jim. He sent him a sly grin. “Ask the others, and I guess you’ll just have to see.”

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It was eerily quiet in the dorm rooms. The night was passing slowly, and it seemed that the day would be safe from Xanadu’s potent wrath. It was hard to relax, however; Odd had the jitters, though he wasn't sure why.

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Ulrich was doing some homework next to him, quietly biting his pencil as he read over their biology notes. Odd had long since given up his share of work- it was boring, he didn’t understand it, and he frankly had no motivation to do it anyway. Instead, he was doodling a picture of Kiwi, who had curled up at the base of his bed, sleeping soundly. 

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He thought about Hopper’s diaries. He wondered how many there were, how far back they dated, what was in them. Would Aelita be mentioned by him? Would it explain to them who Tyron was? 

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Something in the back of his gut didn’t seem to like the Tyron guy, yet he wasn’t sure why. A suspicion, a hunch, he supposed. But there was only one way to find out if it was right. 

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Would the diaries really be of any use? What if they were actual diaries? He pondered about that for a while. Maybe Franz decided to record himself monologuing about something petty, like a neighbour who had given him a dirty look, instead of equations over how to dismantle Xanadu’s protective coding over the ‘off’ switch of the supercomputer. As much as that would suck, it would kind of be funny that the wild goose chase only lead them to recordings of Hopper accounting dumb events. 

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“Hey Ulrich,” he began. “Whaddya think is in those diaries?”

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Ulrich glanced up and look simultaneously annoyed at being interrupted yet grateful for having an excuse to procrastinate. “Didn’t Jeremie say they were supposed to be Hopper’s journal over the events of the creation of Xanadu? It’s probably got some notes over that kind of shit.” 

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“I guess.” He hummed absently and rolled onto his back. “Do you think he’ll talk about Aelita? She was kinda in the loop over Xanadu.” 

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“Maybe. She did get forced into going to Lyoko to gain immunity from the return to the past, but that wouldn’t be until near the end of his journals, I’d think. What’s on your mind?” 

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“Nothing in particular.” They made eye contact, and Ulrich raised a brow. “Just thinking out loud." 

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“I see.” A small pause lapsed between them. “Had any Future Flashes over our next biology test?” 

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Odd laughed. “I wish! I’d be acing every test we had if my shitty power would actually work in my favour for once." 

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Ulrich sighed. “Of course not." 

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The mention of Future Flashes reminded Odd of something. It clicked in his head, and he frowned. He had meant to bring this up earlier, but then Ulrich had to go to soccer practice, and he had forgotten. He never did have the best of memory 

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“Hey, I did have a Future Flash of you earlier, while I was in detention.” 

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That got his attention. He leaned forward, giving him a curious look. “Oh?” 

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“Yeah. You and William were about to get into a fight." 

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“Over?” 

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“Not sure. William was angry that you didn’t trust him.” Odd twirled his pencil absently, thinking about that scene. Maybe pushing William toward showing interest in the group hadn’t been the best idea after all. 

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Ulrich rolled his eyes. “Well, he probably deserved it. How can I trust him when he hasn’t done anything to prove himself? I don’t understand what Yumi sees in him.” 

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“Sees in him?” 

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“As a friend.” It was firm but defensive, and at any other time, Odd would consider teasing him, but now did not seem to be the time. Pushing Ulrich’s buttons was fun, but if he pushed too hard, Ulrich would snap, and he really didn’t want to see him use one of his Pencak Silat moves on him. Once is one too many times already. 

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“Right. Well, she knew him before you guys met. I guess he’s proven to be trustworthy to her.” Ulrich pulled a face. “If you don’t want William in the group, then who would you want?” 

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He frowned. “I’m not sure.” 

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“How about Sissi?” He waggled his eyebrows and received a pillow thrown at his face. “Hey, it’s an honest question. I think she would probably like hanging out with you guys. In fact, I think that’s why she’s jealous of me.” 

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He paused. That’s why William seems to be jealous of him as well. They’ve known the gang a lot longer than he had, and yet one mistake leads to him getting the spot instead of one of them. 

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“Jealous of you?” Ulrich seemed to consider Odd’s words. “That would make some sense. But I don’t think we’d be able to trust her. Who knows when she might decide this is all too much and tattle to her father.” 

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“Then who’s your alternative?” 

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“Hm. Maybe Emilie Leduc?” He shrugged. “She’s got book smarts and street smarts. She’s not at great as Einstein, but she’s definitely got potential.” 

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“Oh, and she can hit hard.” Odd winced at the memory. “Good call.” 

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“What about you? Is there anyone you’d want to invite?” 

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It felt kind of funny to be asked that question. He wasn’t really supposed to be a part of this group in the first place. And he hadn’t been with them long enough to really know who’s trustworthy and who’s not. He didn’t know all that many people either, or at least not well enough to make that kind of call. “I think-” 

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There was a knock at the door. Ulrich waited to see if Odd was going to get it, and when he didn’t, he heave a dramatic sigh and moved off his bed and towards the door. He swung it open, although he hesitated slightly beforehand, as if wondering what instead of who was behind that door. 

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William stood in front of them, and the uneasy feeling Odd had been feeling all night intensified. “Hey.” 

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Ulrich’s poker face slipped back on, squaring his shoulders. “What do you want?” 

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“Frankly, I just want to hear the information from the source.” He leaned against the doorframe. “What exactly are you and your circle of friends hiding?” 

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“Nothing.” 

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“We all know that’s not true Stern." 

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“Even if we did, it’s none of your business.” 

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“Well, it is now. Your roommate told me to talk to you guys, so here I am.” 

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Hm. Yeah. Odd was definitely regretting trying to bait William into getting interested into the group. 

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Ulrich turned from his position and sent him a glare. “I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.” 

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It was unclear as to who that was intended for, but William spoke anyway. “Come on, you guys have known me for a while now. If you’re afraid I’m gonna snitch, then you can have my word that I won’t.” 

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“We’re not hiding anything, so leave us alone.” 

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“Why’d you even come here?” Odd asked. “Why not Jeremie or Yumi?” 

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“I’ve already asked Yumi multiple times. And Jeremie wasn’t at his dorm. I checked.” He tilted his head. “I’m guessing his absences are related to whatever you guys are up to.” 

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“Leave us alone, William.” 

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He narrowed his eyes. “Oh, I see. So you trust some kid you just met with your secret but not a person you’ve actually known for a while? You’d rather trust a virtual stranger in on whatever deep, dark secret you’re hiding than me? Don’t you think I deserve an explanation as to why some newbie stole the position from me?” 

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Odd frowned. Sissi felt the same way. Slowly, he inched in between the two boys, feeling the tension in the room increase dramatically. Neither were shouting, but they didn’t need to yell for their anger and frustration at each other to be obvious. 

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“We don’t owe you shit.” 

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“What’s wrong, Stern?” He leaned into his space. “Can’t handle me being friends with Yumi, so now you’re banning me from the group?" 

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“You’re a weaselly bastard and I have absolutely no faith that you can keep shit to yourself and not be an overbearing, dramatic bitch like you are now.” 

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Ulrich balled his fists, looking ready to strike. There was little space between them as they tried to intimidate each other. William looked irritated beyond belief. 

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Odd was now fully standing in between them, uncertain. He really did not like the way this was escalating. At all. Deja vu was hitting full force. 

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]“So you don’t find me trustworthy, Stern?” He inquired, hurling his last name like a venomous insult. 

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Ulrich looked like he was barely able to hold himself back. Odd himself had placed a hand on his shoulder, frowning quietly. “Cool down, guys.” 

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“No,” Ulrich muttered, pulling away from Odd. He pushed up the sleeves of his jacket. “No. Let’s settle this.” 

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“Yeah,” William taunted. “It’s time we settled this dispute. I just wanna know why the hell you can’t find it in yourself to trust me when you’ve known me for so long." 

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“Because you're a two-faced asshole who’s only interested in himself!” 

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“You’re just jealous!” William looked exasperated. “You’ve always been jealous of me! You can’t even think straight! Instead of trusting someone you’ve known for months and had at least a relationship with, you trust a person you just met! What made him so much better than me, huh? Why’d you let him in?” 

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Odd could feel his blood boiling. He never thought of himself as short-tempered, but he could barely restrain himself. He waited for Ulrich to explain, to just say it how it is: “He was a mistake. We didn’t actually want him in the group." 

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Ulrich remained silent instead. 

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“You can’t even give me an explanation? Why he’s so much better than me? Why after knowing him for a few hours, you decide to spill everything to him? And you tell me that I’m the asshole.” 

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Ulrich snapped. “We didn’t have a choice, William! We didn’t add him in on purpose.” 

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As soon as the words left his mouth, he looked almost regretful. 

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“Oh?” William gave a strained smile. “What, are you telling me that including him was on accident? That he was a mistake?” 

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Odd’s fist connected with William’s nose, and in that moment, he felt no regret. 

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I gotta say I did not mean to take this long of a hiatus. Winter depression, am I right lads?
> 
> Anyway, William's a little bitch right now, but it'll get better.


End file.
